The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music has been awarded the European Heritage Label

As the Commissioner pointed out at the press conference on 25 February, the basic mission of the European Heritage Label is to highlight and recognise heritage sites in Europe which are significant not only for the local or regional community, but also from the perspective of our common European identity. Mr Navracsics added that the Label also expresses that the actual site is valued, restored and maintained by the local community while making sure that it preserves its message for the future generations of Europe.

Photo: Liszt Acadmey / István Fazekas

Mr Navracsics explained that the building of the Liszt Academy with its Art Nouveau style and atmosphere as well as with the events having taken place there stands for the rise of the middle classes in Central Europe, which is Hungary’s indisputable, serious and highly significant contribution to European culture, identity and development. The Deputy State Secretariat of Cultural Heritage, Imre Puskás suggested that the building of the Liszt Academy clearly demonstrates that the culture of Hungary reaches the European standards, since both from an architectural and a content perspective, it has been recognised as a European Heritage Site.  He declared that "we can be proud that Europe acknowledges this value.”– adding that the two Hungarian heritage sites were selected for different reasons but both still strongly epitomise how Hungarians can shape Europe’s history and play a role in the culture of the continent: The Deputy Mayor for Cultural Affairs, Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky suggested that the Liszt Academy was an excellent example of an institution that revives its traditions and fills its architectural heritage with up-to-date, attractive and successful meaning. She also stressed that Label also recognised the tangible value of heritage conservation in tourism, as from year to year, the Liszt Academy attracts an increasing number of international visitors to Budapest. Dr. Andrea Vigh, the President of the Liszt Academy expressed her gratitude for this acknowledgment and pointed out that the institution with its 140 years of history maintains values profoundly connected to the roots of the country: one of the most precious  of these is  world-citizenship of the founder of the Academy, Ferenc Liszt.

The press event took place on the last day of the conference of the Forster Gyula National Centre for Cultural Heritage Management, Pro Progressione Ltd., Europe Point and the Creative Europe Desk starting on Wednesday. The purpose of the consultation was to set up a network of European Label Sites, which could ensure an appropriate structure for international cooperation. Representatives attended the event from more than fifty percent of the sites from ten different countries. Imre Szabó Stein, Director of Communications, gave a short account of the exceptionally rich traditions, the most crucial educational and concert activities, prestigious institutes, award-winning renewal projects as well as of the communication based on the fascinating tension of tradition and progress.

Photo: Liszt Academy / István Fazekas

At the beginning of February, the European Commission decided to add nine new sites to the European Heritage Label list. Besides the Liszt Academy, the following other European heritage sites got selected:  the Neanderthal Prehistoric site and Krapina Museum in Croatia, the Olomouc Premyslid Castle and Archdiocesan Museum in the Czech Republic, the Sagres Promontory in Portugal, the Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria, the Historic Ensemble of the University of Tartu in Estonia, Mundaneum in Mons, Belgium, the WWI Eastern Front Cemetery N°123 in Poland and the European District of Strasbourg in France. The representatives of the above-mentioned institutions will receive the European Heritage Label in Brussels on 13 April 2016.  With the sites listed in the previous two years, the European Heritage Sites add up to 29. The other Hungarian site, which was recognised with the same label last year, was the Pan-European Picnic Memorial Park in Sopron.

MTI / lisztacademy.hu