October 2, 2008Renzo Piano has been awarded the
Sonning Prize, one of the most prestigious cultural acknowledgements of
Denmark. Instituted by author and publisher
C.J. Sonning, the prize is awarded by the
University of
Copenhagen to a person who has contributed, with his work, to promoting European culture.
The prize was awarded for the first time in
1950 to Sir
Winston Churchill, and since then has been assigned 30 times more to various personalities in different areas of the world of culture. Awardees include philosophers
Bertrand Russell and
Karl Popper, actors Sir
Laurence Olivier and
Dario Fo, directors
Ingmar Bergman and
Krzysztof Kieslowski, writer
Simone de Beauvoir.
To date, only two other architects have been awarded this prestigious acknowledgement:
Alvar Aalto in
1962 and
Jørn Utzon in
1998.
The
Sonning Prize, which amounts to 1,000,000 Danish crowns (approximately 134,000 euros), was presented to
Renzo Piano in the Ceremony Hall of the University of
Copenhagen.