Follow livestream as Europa Nostra receives Empress Theophano Prize 2025 on 6 November at 17:30 CET

The 2025 Empress Theophano Prize is being awarded to Europa Nostra in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the preservation and promotion of Europe’s cultural heritage as a fundamental pillar of unity, identity and sustainable development of Europe for more than 60 years.

The prize will be presented by H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Constantine An. Tassoulas, to Europa Nostra’s Executive President, Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger, and Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, on behalf of the organisation, in a ceremony on 6 November (as of 17:30 CET / 18:30 EET) in the emblematic 2,000-year-old Rotunda of Thessaloniki, Greece.

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This year’s event will be attended by high-level guests, such as Herman Van Rompuy, Honorary President of the European Council, former Prime Minister of Belgium and Chairman of the Theophano Foundation’s Advisory Council, former President of Finland Tarja Halonen, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, former Ambassador of England to the European Union Sir Ivan Rogers, and former Minister of Interior of Spain Maria Luisa Poncela.

Other recipients of the Empress Theophano Prize, which launched in 2020, include the European Commission’s Erasmus Programme, the scientists Dr. Uğur Şahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci who developed the first vaccine against the coronavirus, the conductor Daniel Barenboim and his initiative West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the UN and its Secretary-General António Guterres, and the Special Olympics.