Vardzia complex awarded EU's 2021 European Heritage Award for conservation

The Vardzia complex is on the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage and has been called "one of the most important examples of medieval heritage in Georgia" by the Europa Nostra Awards. Photo via National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia.

Agenda.ge, 25 May 2021 - 16:24, Tbilisi,Georgia

The state project for conservation of the Vardzia Cave Complex, a 12th-13th centuries monument in Georgia's south, has been unveiled as one of the winning entries of this year's Europa Nostra/European Heritage Award, the European Union prize for cultural heritage.

Run between 2015-2019 by the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia in cooperation with the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the Ilia State University Centre for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Studies, the project for conservation and monitoring at the site is one of nine efforts from across Europe awarded the major prize.

The reveal of the winners in a live online event saw an address from the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli in which he told the winners "[t]hrough your professionalism, your dedication, your artistic sensitivity, you have helped revitalise the Europe of today and to project it into the future."

Presenting recipients of the award in four categories - selected by a judge panel involving cultural heritage experts - the event also saw messages from Europa Nostra’s Executive President Hermann Parzinger and heads of other European cultural institutions.