On March 5 in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, we celebrated the 20th edition of the Professor Aleksander Gieysztor Award. This prestigious award is presented by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation for outstanding achievements in the protection of the Polish cultural heritage. The laureates of the Award in the previous years were, among others, Norman Davies, Andrzej Wajda and Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda, and Anda Rottenberg.
TThe Professor Aleksander Gieysztor Award is an example of a unique initiative that unites people like no other program, says Sławomir S. Sikora, President of the Management Board of Citi Handlowy. If we look at the achievements and history of its laureates, we can see the remarkable passion in each of them, as well as their great efforts in and commitment to building relations between people and institutions, and respect for diversity, which is inherent in the history and everyday reality of the contemporary Poland.
For the 20 years since its establishment, the Professor Aleksander Gieysztor Award has been granted to institutions or persons for outstanding achievements in the field of protection of the Polish cultural heritage in the following areas: museology, art conservation, archiving and libraries; international promotion and protection of the Polish cultural heritage; local government initiatives to protect the cultural heritage; individual and joint initiatives to collect and protect remains and monuments of the cultural heritage; popularization of the need to protect the cultural heritage in Poland and dissemination of methods to achieve this goal. It is one of the key activities of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation as regards supporting and protecting cultural heritage.
The list of previous winners includes, among others, Leon Tarasewicz, Elżbieta and Krzysztof Penderecki, Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda and Andrzej Wajda, as well as Norman Davies.
This year, the Award Jury headed by Professor Andrzej Rottermund awarded bishop Waldemar Pytel for more than 30 years of his efforts to save, revitalize and restore the splendor of the Lutheran block of streets along with the Church of Peace in Świdnica ? the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks to the extraordinary determination of bishop Waldemar Pytel, Świdnica is now an authentic place of dialogue between cultures and nations.
The 20th award gala of the Professor Aleksander Gieysztor Award was held on March 5 in the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
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From the right, Sławomir S. Sikora Citi Handlowy CEO, Bożena Pytel, Bishop Waldemar Pytel, Prof. Andrzej Rottermund, Prof. J. Purchla |
Sławomir S. Sikora Citi Handlowy CEO |
PWojciech Kolarski, Undersecretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of Poland |
