27th Romanesque Award Ceremony

On 21 September 2022, the 27th edition of the Romanesque Award Ceremony of the Route of the Romanesque in Saxony-Anhalt took place at Huysburg Monastery. The Ministry of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt as well as the Tourism Association of Saxony-Anhalt honour outstanding commitment dedicated to raising the awareness for the Route of the Romanesque. In 2022, the Romanesque Award Ceremony was expanded to include two more prizes – the 10th Romanesque Research Award and the first international TRANSROMANICA Award. 

The awardees of the Romanesque Awards 2021 and Romanesque Research Award © TRANSROMANICA

We congratulate the awardees of the following prices:

 

Special Award of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt

Prignitz Museum at Havelberg Cathedral

Presented by Sven Schulze, Minister of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt, the Prignitz Museum at Havelberg Cathedral received the Special Award, which is donated with 10,000 Euros, for its project “Use of Multimedia to optimize the presentation of the musuem and conveying history”. In 2018, the completion of the renovation of the west wing of the cathedral monastery and the associated redesign of the permanent exhibition “Nothing is as constant as change” on the history of the Altmark, Prignitz and Havelland regions was done. The use of multimedia with digitized archive materials from the museum’s collections was intended to expand the redesign of the permanent exhibition and make the exhibits and content presented tangible. With the implementation of the digitization concept and the associated modernization, the Prignitz Museum would like to achieve an increase in attractiveness and make the historical mediation tangible. The aim is to arouse the interest of as many target groups as possible. The new offers are intended to sustainably promote the tourist and economic development of the city of Havelberg as a hub for various travel routes, such as the “Route of the Romanesque” or the Cultural Route of the Council of Europe “TRANSROMANICA”. In addition, the Prignitz Museum is to be further developed as an extracurricular educational institution. 

Special Award of the Ministry © TRANSROMANICA

Golden Romanesque Award:

Association for the Promotion of Hanseatic Culture – “From Cathedral to Cathedral – Thietmar’s River Cruise”

The golden prize awarded the Association for the Promotion of Hanseatic Culture in the Hanseatic City of Halle an der Saale e. V. for its project “From Cathedral to Cathedral – Thietmar’s River Cruise”. From 2015 to 2021, the river cruise was held annually in July as a one-week cycle of events, honoring the work of Merseburg Bishop and chronicler Thietmar (975-1018) and the construction of the Imperial Cathedral he initiated. The organizers, led by Thomas Kirchhoff from Halle an der Saale, implemented the idea of ​​a historically reconstructed river cruise along the rivers Saale and Elbe between the two cathedral cities of Magdeburg and Merseburg, and commemorated the time from the laying of the foundation stone to the consecration in an original, broadly effective way that everyone could experience of Merseburg Cathedral 1.000 years ago. The embedding of buildings from the Route of the Romanesque occupied a special place in “Thietmar’s River Cruise”. In front of the portals of the monasteries or church buildings, the citizens, guests or church communities saw entertaining and impressive performances in which the Romanesque sites not only represented a sacred backdrop, but also became stone witnesses of the regional history conveyed.

Golden Romanesque Award © TRANSROMANICA

Silver Romanesque Award:

Association for the Promotion of Music Friends EULE-ORGEL of Zeitz Cathedral

The silver prize honered the 10-year voluntary commitment to organizing and conducting organ concerts of the Association for the Promotion of Music Friends EULE-ORGEL of Zeitz Cathedral. The non-profit association strives to preserve this historic musical instrument in the city of Zeitz with the help of a lot of voluntary commitment. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the team around Mrs. Hartmann worked and is still working eagerly on a program around the 350th anniversary of Heinrich-Schütz’s death, which will be commemorated in a year of celebration from October 2021 to November 2022 and at the same time the 10th anniversary of the association is dedicated. With the inclusion of the Zeitz Cathedral in 2017 as the 32nd stop on the “Straße der Musik” (Route of Music), the achievements of the association were recognized and the attractiveness of the cathedral increased. Since the founding of the association in April 2012, it organizes organ concerts every year and well-known anniversaries are picked up and accompanied by music, such as “25 Years of the Route of the Romanseque”.

Silver Romanesque Award © Ilka Keffel | Tourism Association of Saxony-Anhalt

Special Romanesque Award

Bärbel Schön

Bärbel Schön, former Managing Director of the Tourism Association of Saxony-Anhalt, was honored with a special prize for her many years of tireless work and commitment to the “Route of the Romanesque”. She has participated in various national exhibitions and special shows and honored the “Route of the Romanesque” with ceremonies on special anniversaries, also to show how worth seeing it is. In addition to her work for the annual Romanesque Award Ceremony, Mrs. Schön initiated the award of a special prize by the Ministry of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt together with our current Prime Minister. Supporting and honoring volunteers has always been important to her, as more than half of the buildings are looked after by volunteers. In the field of ​​culture and concerts the festival cooperation “Unter Großen Bögen” were developed and implemented to this day as well as the annual “Romanesque Day“.

Special Romanesque Award © TRANSROMANICA

10th Romanesque Research Award

Alexandra Sotirakis – Dissertation “Vaulted Choir Rooms of European Romanesque: Forms and Functions”

In her work, submitted as part of a trinational study program at the Universities of Paris-Sorbonne, Florence and Bonn, Alexandra Sotirakis examines the special forms of vaulted choir rooms in selected Romanesque churches. She not only analyzes the relationship between the architecture and the liturgical space, but also asks about the role of the client in the choice of spatial division. It becomes clear that the question of designing the vaulted choir room cannot be reduced to technical and material constraints alone.

The international Romanesque Research Award has been awarded annually by the European Romanesque Center in Merseburg since 2011 for outstanding dissertations in the field of art history, archaeology, history, church, literary or legal history in the high middle ages. The prize is endowed with 2,000 Euros and is sponsored by the Saalesparkasse of the city of Halle/Saale.

Romanesque Research Award © TRANSROMANICA

International TRANSROMANICA Award

Nuno Fonseca / Rota do Românico –  Project “Heritage Carers”

The first TRANSROMANICA Award honored Nuno Fonseca, president of the Rota do Românico, for the outstanding work and commitment of the evaluation and implementation of the project „Heritage Carers“. As a winner of the “European Heritage Days” Stories competition, promoted by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, the Rota do Românico developed this project which is divided into two major areas of intervention – digital and social. The selected areas complement each other and guarantee the fulfillment of the general objective of this project, which involves promoting digital innovation and social interaction in the preservation of a conscious Cultural Heritage. All activities were planned in accordance with the project’s specific objectives: Promote social cohesion and reduce the isolation of the elderly; Bringing generations together through knowledge sharing; Awaken interest in preserving the Cultural Heritage; Ensuring sustainability and, consequently, valuing the Cultural Heritage; Disseminate the testimonies of Heritage Carers at the European level; Dignify the role of Heritage Carer at national and European level; Foster proximity between Heritage, Heritage Carers and Visitors; Contribute to the sustainable development of the territory.  The award and certificate will be handed over during this years´ General Assembly of the TRANSROMANICA Association in Lousada, Portugal, on 20 September 2022.

TRANSROMANICA initiated this price to honor outstanding commitment and work along all TRANSROMANICA member regions across Europe. TRANSROMANICA is committed to promoting the European heritage of Romanesque art and architecture, enhancing it for tourism and thus supporting sustainable regional and economic development. Since 2007, TRANSROMANICA has been recognized as a “Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” and connects the common Romanesque cultural heritage across 13 member regions in nine European countries.

TRANSROMANICA Award © TRANSROMANICA

The guests of the 27th Romanesque Award Ceremony were welcomed by Brother Jakobus, winner of the Golden Romanesque Award 2020. Sven Schulze, Minister of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt held the laudatory speech for the Special Award which is donated with 10,000 Euro. Dr. Lydia Hüskens, Madam Minister of Infastructure and Digital Affairs of Saxony-Anahlt and head of the FDP (Free Democratic Party) of Saxony-Anhalt held the donor words for the 27th Romanesque Awards.  The laudatory speeches for the winners of the Romanesque Awards and the TRANSROMANICA Award was hold by Lars-Jörn Zimmer, Member of the German Bundestag, Chairman of the Tourism Association of Saxony-Anhalt and President of the TRANSROMANICA Association. For the 10th Romanesque Research Award, Prof. Dr. Ute Engel, chairwoman of the European Romanesque Center in Merseburg, held the laudatory speech and Dr. Jürgen Fox, chairman of the Saalesparkasse, held the donor words for this award.

 

Welcome speech | Brother Jakobus © TRANSROMANICA
Laudatory speech for the Special Award | Sven Schulze © TRANSROMANICA
TRANSROMANICA Donor words for the Romanesque Awards | Dr. Lydia Hüskens © TRANSROMANICA
Laudatory speeches for the Romanesque Awards and the TRANSROMANICA Award | Lars-Jörn Zimmer © TRANSROMANICA
Laudatory speech for the Romanesque Research Award | Prof. Dr. Ute Engel © TRANSROMANICA
Donor words for the Romanesque Research Award | Dr. Jürgem Fox © TRANSROMANICA

 

The ceremony was framed by musical performances from Jenni Koskela, Yukari Yoshiuchi and Jens Herrmann.