The renovated evangelical fortress church of Szászalmád (Almen in German, Alma Vii in Romanian) in southern Transylvania won the audience award among this year's recipients of the European Heritage Award, it was announced at the award gala in Bucharest.
The professional renovation, which generates tourism income for the local community, was carried out by the Mihai Eminescu Foundation, which was established by the British King Charles, who considered the preservation of Transylvania's Saxon architectural heritage a matter of his heart, while he was still heir to the throne.
Out of this year's 26 awardees of Europa Nostra, in the order of public votes, the Terjan Educational Center, which nurtures the cultural heritage of Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh and was awarded in the education category, came in second place. It was given to St. Michael's Church.
This year, Bucharest hosted the annual professional conference of European heritage protection. As part of the four-day event, the European Union's heritage protection awards, the Europa Nostra awards, were presented in five different categories on Monday evening in the Ateneul Roman concert hall.
Nine prizes were awarded for heritage preservation and adaptive reuse, one prize for research, five prizes for education, training, training development, seven prizes for raising awareness of heritage protection and the involvement of citizens, and four prizes for the "champions of cultural heritage" - individuals and organizations for decades of heritage protection work. in recognition - awarded by the professional jury.
The renovated Lutheran fortress church of Szászalmád (Almen in German, Alma Vii in Romanian) in South Transylvania won the audience award of the European Heritage Award on October 8, 2024.
MTI/Gábor Kiss
At the end of May, the European Commission published the list of this year's winners of the European Heritage Award: it was then revealed that Cluj's Gothic heritage from the 14th century, St. Michael's Church, renovated with the support of the European Union and the Hungarian and Romanian states, also received the prestigious recognition.
At the Bucharest gala, parish priest Attila László, archdeacon of Cluj-Doboka, received the award donated to St. Michael's Church on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, the owner.
Attila László told MTI that receiving the Europa Nostra diploma is a joint celebration of the large team working on the renovation. He added:
it is a joy that the church has been renovated, but at the same time it is a task and a challenge for the community that has to keep it alive.
According to the parish priest, it is not only the support for the renovation and its professional recognition that shows that Europe considers this valuable heritage to be its own: in the last three months, 115,000 visitors visited the church, which was awarded the Europa Nostra award.
MTI
Cover photo: The renovated Lutheran fortress church of Szászalmád (Almen in German, Alma Vii in Romanian) in southern Transylvania, which won the European Heritage Award's audience award, on October 8, 2024.
MTI/Gábor Kiss
