Employees and activists of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be honoured on 21 October
Europa Nostra, Europe’s leading heritage organisation, in cooperation with the European Commission and the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, cordially invite you to the Local Award Ceremony for the Employees and Activists of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Grand Prix winners of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016, Europe’s highest honour in the field, on Friday 21 October.
The celebratory event consists of two parts. The presentation ceremony will take place at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina at 11:00 with free admission to all the citizens; and a live concert will be held at Sarajevo City Hall at 19:00.
The ceremony programme features:
11:00 – Group photograph of all the citizens and activists who participated in the campaign “I am the Museum” by doing shifts in the closed National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the summer of 2015, the employees of the Museum and representatives from various organisations.
11:05 – Adresses: Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General Europa Nostra, and John Sell, Executive Vice-President of Europa Nostra
11:15 – Speech: Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head of the Delegation of European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina
11:20 – Address: Mirsad Sijarić, Director of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
11:25 – Speech: Aida Kalender, Programme Director of NGO Akcija
11:30 – Musical performance by Jordi Savall, renowned musician and conductor from Spain (Catalonia)
As a part of the ceremony, Jordi Savall, a stirring player of the viola da gamba, a cello-like relative of the lute popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, will perform at the National Museum together with Turkish and Armenian musicians, namely Yurdal Tokcan, Hakan Güngör and Haïg Sarikouyoumdjian.
Savall has become the world’s leading performer and promoter of ancient musical heritage. He has recorded more than 230 albums covering Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertoires. Together with mezzo-soprano Monserrat Figueras, his late wife, he set up the International Ancient Music Centre Foundation (CIMA). In 2008, Maestro Savall was appointed European Union Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue. In 2009, he was named UNESCO’s Artist for Peace for his outstanding musical commitment to intercultural dialogue. In 2015, Savall received the Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage – instituted by Europa Nostra and its representation in Portugal Centro National de Cultural – for his unique contribution to celebrating the multicultural story of Europe through its rich musical heritage.
This ceremony is the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to the Employees of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their dedication to do everyday shifts during the three years in which the Museum was closed, thus saving the Museum and its collections. This is also the opportunity to thank all the citizens and activists who participated in the campaign “I am the Museum” and in that way showed their solidarity with the Museum employees.
If you want to be on the group photograph with the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award, come in front of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday 21.10.2016 at 11:00.
The ceremony participants are invited to see the photo exhibition “Guardians of the Museum” featuring portraits of the employees made by the photographer Ziyah Gafić during the period when the Museum was closed. Citizens, employees and activists are at the centre of this ceremony and every single one of them will have the chance to make a photo with the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award. All the photos will be published in the Facebook page of the campaign “I am the Museum”.
In the evening part of the programme, Maestro Savall will, at his personal request, perform in Sarajevo City Hall accompanied by 21 skilled musicians from different countries of Southeast Europe. The program will consist of compositions of traditional Balkans musical heritage.
Along with the Savall’s instrumental ensemble Hespèrion XX there will be guest musicians from Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Spain, as well as four great vocalists – Amira Medunjanin from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Stoimenka Outchikova-Nedialkova from Bulgaria, Katerine Papadopoulou from Greece, and Hungarian-Romanian cello player and singer Tche Limberger.
This extraordinary concert is organized with the support of the European Commission (through the Creative Europe programme) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), and with the personal contribution and commitment of Maestro Savall who wants through the concert to contribute to the promotion of the intercultural dialogue and our common cultural heritage – not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the wider Balkan region.
The concert is supported by the International Ancient Music Centre Foundation (CIMA) established by Jordi Savall, the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Cultural Foundation and the City of Sarajevo.
