The Agency for Monument Inspection and Restoration of Moldova won the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards, which is considered the most prestigious European Prize in the area of heritage. The trophy in the category “Education, training and awareness-raising” was handed over in a ceremony held at the National Museum of History, IPN reports.

The Agency managed to become a winner of the 2015 edition, announced by the European Commission and Europa Nostra, by a project launched at the start of 2013, entitled “Let’s save the traces of the past to build the future”. The project covers all the Agency’s activities carried out in 2013-2014 with the aim of promoting a respectful attitude to the country’s patrimony.

Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Pirkka Tapiola said that this Prize is a very valuable accomplishment and the whole work done by the Agency’s team is important not only for preserving the past, but also for building the future.

Maria Berza, the representative of Europa Nostra, noted that Moldova gives an example of how very important things can be achieved with modest resources, while the Prize won by the Agency shows that the heritage is not only a vestige of the past, which we should keep for the future generations, but is also a very powerful development model.

The Agency’s director Ion Stefanita said that they put into practice a number of modern education methods since 2013, such as photo exhibitions, roundtable meetings and conferences on the European Heritage Days. They also made the film “Let’s save the traces of the past to build the future”, which was designed to raise the people’s awareness and cultivate a responsible attitude to the protected historical cultural heritage. 

The EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards was launched in 2002 by the European Commission and has been organized by Europa Nostra since then. The Prize celebrates and promotes best practices related to heritage conservation, management, research, education and communication. The Prize honors every year up to 30 outstanding heritage achievements from all parts of Europe. Specialist juries made up of independent experts assess the nominated projects and select the winners in four categories: Conservation; Research; Dedicated Service by Individuals or Organizations, and Education, Training and Awareness-Raising.