Representatives from eight SEE Heritage Network member organizations: Association for preservation of the cultural heritage, see Macedonia; Cultural Heritage without Borders, drugstore Albania/ Bosnia and Herzegovinia/ Kosovo; Expeditio, order Montenegro; Europa Nostra Serbia; Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization, Albania; Projektor, Montenegro; Pro torpedo, Croatia; Transylvania Trust, Romania, and the SEE Heritage Network Secretariat, participated the Europa Nostra Annual Congress 2011 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The main event of the Congress was the presentation of the 27 winners of the 2011 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards and the Ceremony of the Awards Giving.
.The Ceremony, attended by H.R.H. Princess Margriet of The Netherlands, took place at the Amsterdam's concert hall, the 'Concertgebouw'. The awards were presented by Ms Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Maestro Plácido Domingo, the world-renowned tenor and president of Europa Nostra. Six of the 27 winners were named 'Grand Prix' laureates in recognition of their outstanding heritage achievements: 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, Uście Gorlickie, Poland, and the Weald & Downland open air museum, Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom, They were selected from nearly 140 submitted projects in 31 countries. The awards have been supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union since 2002.
Prior to the Award Giving Ceremony, the Forum "Volunteers: added value for Europe's cultural heritage", was organized by the Europa Nostra in cooperation with Bond Heemscht and Erfgoed Nederland. The participants will be divided in 4 parallel discussion sessions:
1. Should I stay or should I go?
2. How do we keep them happy?
3. Who is the expert?
4. Listen to me!
The plenary concluding session included an address by Alexander Rinnooy Kan (President of the Social and Economic Council in the Netherlands) and conclusions by Ann Branch (Head of Unit Culture, DG Education & Culture) and John Sell (Executive Vice-President of Europa Nostra).
The Congress participants also had an unique opportunity to listen to the public lecture by Sir David Chipperfield, British architect responsible for the "renaissance" of the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, laureate of the EU / EN Grand Prix 2010. The Congress finished with two heritage visits: of the historic town of Harlem and various industrial heritage sites around Amsterdam.
Secretary
