Noted Austrian architect Götz Hagmüller was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class
Kunda Dixit
HONOURED: Austrian restoration architect Götz Hagmüller (left) receiving the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class from Austrian Chargé d’Affaires Georg Zehetner at the Patan Museum on Tuesday.
Noted Austrian architect Götz Hagmüller, who has been involved in heritage restoration in Kathmandu Valley for the past 40 years, was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class by his native country.
Hagmüller was conferred the medal on Tuesday by Austrian Chargé d’Affaires Georg Zehetner at the Patan Museum, which Hagmüller himself helped design and restore with support from the Austrian government.
“It is an honour to receive this distinction, especially in this location which we designed in various stages over many years, and sometimes with considerable difficulty,” Hagmüller said.
Hagmüller who was trained as an architect in Vienna, was actively involved in preservation of cultural heritage all over the world, including in Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Luang Prabang in Laos. He has called Nepal home since 1979 and has been involved in the restoration of Bhaktapur, Patan Museum, and the Garden of Dreams in Kathmandu.
“I am happy to add this decoration to the other one I received, from King Birendra just before he died in 2001,” Hagmüller said.
The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class pays tribute to Austrians and foreign figures who have ‘distinguished themselves and earned general acclaim through especially superior creative and commendable services in the areas of the sciences or the arts’.
Previous recipients include Frank Sinatra, Plácido Domingo, and Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa.
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