The winners of the 7 Most Endangered programme 2022 run by the leading heritage organisation  Europa Nostra and the EIB Institute and supported by Creative Europe have been announced on 29 March 2022 during a live event with European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel.

They are: Zogu Bridge, (Albania), Récollets Convent, Nivelles (Belgium), Garden City La Butte Rouge, near Paris, (France), Historic Centre of Stolberg (Germany), Neptune Baths, Băile Herculane, (Romania), Orléans-Borbón Palace, near Cádiz, (Spain), Crèvecoeur Fortress, Den Bosch, (The Netherlands)

For the second time since the launch of the programme, the selected 7 Most Endangered heritage sites will be eligible for an EIB Heritage Grant of up to €10,000 per site. The EIB Heritage Grant can be allocated to the eligible selected 7 Most Endangered sites to assist in implementing an agreed activity that will contribute to saving the threatened site.

Mariya Gabriel underlined “the human tragedy and the cultural tragedy that is the war in Ukraine” and “the need for research and innovation to safeguard cultural heritage”. She called for “all heritage stakeholders to join forces”.

The Board of Europa Nostra declared the cultural heritage of Ukraine as ‘THE most Endangered heritage in Europe’,” announced Europa Nostra President Hermann Parzinger.

Since the launch of the programme in 2013, 51 sites in 28 countries representing “much more than merely bricks and stones but the memory and soul of Europe” as underlined by Henry von Blumenthal, Acting Dean of the Institute, have been selected. Many have been saved such as the Mafra carillons in Portugal, the Bourla Theater 19th century machinery in Antwerp (Belgium), the Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria and Romanian wooden churches.

The EIB Institute facilitates the transfer of know-how and experience between different partners and countries in the heritage conservation field.