The Weald and Downland is one of only six bodies to be awarded the prestigious ‘Grand Prix’ laureates by Europa Nostra, in recognition of their outstanding heritage achievements, and is one of the 27 already honoured by the organisation for their contributions to the sector.
IHBC President Eddie?Booth, gave a warm welcome to the award saying ‘We knew theWeald & Downland Museum had won a laureate, one of seven in the category of Education, Training and Awareness-raising. But then to win the Grand Prix is fantastic for them and for the UK.’
At an awards ceremony on 10 June at the Concertbouw in Amsterdam, Diana Rowsell, Head of Learning at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum was presented with a European Commission/Europa Nostra Grand Prix award. This award recognised the Museum’s exemplary historic building conservation programme at the ceremony which celebrated the most outstanding heritage achievements across Europe.
The prize was presented by Plácido Domingo, the world-renowned tenor and president of Europa Nostra and Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.
The jury commented that this award has been granted for the ‘exemplary initiative and long standing commitment of the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum for creating a centre of training in historic building conservation’. The consistency, sustainability and affordability of the programme over the last 15 years, were also highlighted by the panel.
The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, in Singleton, West Sussex, is England’s leading museum of historic buildings. It has a long-established programme of training in historic building conservation. From its inception over 40 years ago, the Museum has offered formal and informal learning opportunities.
The six Grand Prix winners are:
• Station Antwerpen Centraal (Antwerp Central Station), Antwerp, Belgium
• Preindustrial buildings in Ademuz / Sesga, Ademuz, Valencia, Spain
• The Hackfall woodland garden, Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
• Architectural heritage of the buffer zone in the walled city of Nicosia, Cyprus
• Szymon Modrzejewski, U?cie Gorlickie, Poland
• Weald & Downland open air museum, Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom
For background and links see: https://newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk/?p=2761
Europa Nostra News: LINK
