Europa Nostra General Assembly 2025 held in Brussels
The Europa Nostra General Assembly 2025 was held on the morning of 13 October at KBR – Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels in the frame of the European Cultural Heritage Summit 2025. The meeting was chaired by our Executive President, Hermann Parzinger, with the assistance of our Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović.
In a heartfelt video message conveyed at the General Assembly, our President, Cecilia Bartoli, thanked all those who have supported the work of Europa Nostra for over 60 years, stressing that the prestigious Empress Theophano Prize 2025, which will be awarded to Europa Nostra on 6 November in Thessaloniki, Greece, belongs and is dedicated to them. “Nothing brings Europeans closer together than heritage; heritage reflects our identities and is an inexhaustible source of creativity,” she stated.
The General Assembly paid tribute to three long-standing members of Europa Nostra: Princesse Isabelle de Broglie (France/Belgium), former Council Member, who passed away on 14 February 2025; José María Ballester (Spain), former Council Member and Chair of the European Heritage Awards Jury, who passed away on 1 April 2025 (photo above); and Adriaan Linters (Belgium), former Council Member, who passed away on 31 May 2025.
Members handled relevant statutory matters, including the approval of the Europa Nostra Annual Report 2024, the approval of the preliminary budget for 2026, which was presented by our Treasurer, Philippe de Cossé Brissac, and several important (re-) appointments to the Council and the Internal Audit Committee.
Agata Wasowska, Marina Martinou, Teresa Tamen and Androulla Vassiliou, representatives of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hubs in Kraków (Poland), Athens (Greece), Lisbon (Portugal) and Nicosia, respectively, gave brief updates on the initiatives of the Hubs. Gaiane Casnati, Vesna Marjanovic and Natalia Moussienko, representatives of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hubs to be established soon in Yerevan (Armenia), Belgrade (Serbia) and Kyiv (Ukraine), and Marine Mizandari from the National Trust of Georgia, also addressed the audience.
Last but not least, Androulla Vassiliou, Vice-President of Europa Nostra, also on behalf of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Nicosia, presented the draft programme of the European Cultural Heritage Summit 2026, which will be held from 27 to 30 May in Nicosia, Cyprus, in the framework and with the support of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Photos
General Assembly: photo selection
In Memoriam
Princesse Isabelle de Broglie (France/Belgium)
José María Ballester (Spain)
Adriaan Linters (Belgium)
