Exhibition and Award

FRATE SOLE FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR SACRED ARCHITECURE - VII EDITION – 2020

Even in building Churches, in projecting altairs or glass windows, I’ve always tried to follow the same principle: a sacred building cannot be a “lecture”, but it has to be a palce where God meets humankind, showing Himself as a light that gives peace and reveals the ancient beauty that every morning, with sunrise, the Epiphany of the Lord, is renewed. I’ve never wondered which, theoretically, was the “aim” of art, even the art dedicated to serving the lithurgy. I felt that it had, as ultimate purpose, the one of giving joy, creating – possibly with simplicity – a space full of harmony, poetry and calm in contrast with the trials and tribulations that affect people’s ordinary lives. A church, with its shapes and its bricks, just has to make visible and perceivable that presence of God that is already innate inside us.

P. Costantino Ruggeri

With the occasion of the meeting with the winner of the VIIth Edition of the International Prize for Sacred Architecture “Frate Sole”, that will be held on Monday, 26 October 2020 at 5pm, the Frate Sole Foundation decided to make available to the general public a preview of diagrams, projects, sketches and models of the works that are competing in this 2020 Edition.

The Prize is the most important event of Sacred Architecture in the world and unseals the overall panorama of the design, with its different national connotations, worldwide.

Illustrious are the winners of past editions: Rafael Moneo with the Church of Iesu in San Sebastian – Spain in 2016; Cristián Undurraga with the Chapel of the Retreat in Los Andes Valley – Chile in 2016; John Pawson, with the Church of Monastery of Our Lady of Novy Dvur – Czech Republic in 2008; Richard Meier with the Church of Dio Padre Misericordioso in Tor Tre Teste -  Rome in 2004;  Àlvaro Siza with the Church of Santa Maria a Marco de Canavezes in Porto – Portugal, in 2000; Tadao Ando  with the Chapel on Mount Rokko  in Kobe – Japan, in 1996.

More then 130 are the international projects candidated for this VIIth Edition of the Prize.

We’re really looking forward to find out the winner of the 2020 Edition (the proclamation will be held on the 4th of October 2020 in Pavia, whereas the “Lectio Magistralis” will be in Koinè the 26th of October 2020).