Daniel Libeskind receives Dresden Prize for ‘memorial architecture’

 

Admin l Sunday, February 19, 2023

 

BERLIN – The US architect Daniel Libeskind has received the Dresden Prize 2023, endowed with €10,000 ($10,700) for his extraordinary artistic contributions to the culture of remembrance and commemoration.

The 76-year-old, who designed the extension to the Jewish Museum in Berlin among many other projects, is to be honoured on Sunday at the 14th presentation of the prize to date in Dresden’s Semper Opera House.

“Libeskind receives the ‘Dresden Prize’ for a very special part of his work, which can be referred to as memorial architecture,” the awarding association the Friends of Dresden said.

“Like hardly any other architect, the artist created an appropriate architectural framework for remembering the victims of the Holocaust, war and terror in recent decades.”

In addition, the award for 2022 is expected to be presented to the Dutch climate advocate Roger Cox. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, his honour was postponed by one year.

Cox received the Dresden Prize for his fight for compliance with global climate goals.

Former German interior minister Gerhart Baum is also to be honoured with the Friends of Dresden Award. The 90-year-old politician has dedicated his life to human rights and peace, they said.

Previous laureates include the final leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, Edward Duke of Kent – a cousin of the late British queen Elizabeth II – and US whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.