Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Your Highness the Aga Khan, Ambassador Muasher, Congressman Leach, distinguished colleagues and friends, welcome to the State Department.
There's no better place, certainly in this building, to discuss culture than a room named for Thomas Jefferson, who was only a great architect, writer and diplomat, but also spent so much time in France.

President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today convened the first White House Conference on Culture and Diplomacy.His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, was among distinguished panellists invited to advise President Clinton and Secretary Albright on the role of culture in foreign policy.

How can leading research universities better serve society? Is access to information technologies alone sufficient to enable institutions to improve the quality and reach of education?

Thank you Mr. President. It is an honour to be associated with this distinguished panel in a discussion of a topic which I have long felt has received too little attention, particularly at the policy level. Thank you for the invitation.I offer my comments this morning from the perspective of someone who has been a long-standing observer of cultural evolution in the developing world of Africa and Asia, and from more than twenty-years of experience with activities such as the Aga Khan Award for Architecture that have attempted to make a positive contribution to that process.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Building Museum will present its annual Vincent Scully Prize to Aga Khan IV, the Ismaili Muslim leader.The Aga Khan is being cited for his contributions promoting design excellence and improving the building environment in the Islamic world, it was announced Tuesday.
The presentation, which will take place in Washington Jan. 25, will honor the Muslim prince for the $500,000 in awards he gives every three years to projects that demonstrate architectural excellence in societies in which Muslims have a significant presence. The award is in its ninth cycle.

The National Building Museum's fifth Vincent Scully Prize will be presented on January 25, 2005 to His Highness The Aga Khan, in recognition of his contributions to promoting design excellence and improving the built environment in the Muslim world.
The Vincent Scully Prize was established in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design.

The National Building Museum's fifth Vincent Scully Prize will be presented on January 25, 2005 to His Highness The Aga Khan, in recognition of his contributions to promoting design excellence and improving the built environment in the Muslim world.
The Vincent Scully Prize was established in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design.

The President Was Saddened to Hear of the Death of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan on May 13, 2003. Prince Sadruddin was a great humanitarian, philanthropist, and international civil servant.As UN High Commissioner for Refugees for over a decade starting in the mid-1960s, Prince Sadruddin led international efforts to help refugees from Bangladesh and Burundi, assist Southeast Asians fleeing conflict, and find new homes for thousands of Asians expelled from Uganda by then-President Idi Amin.

The President Was Saddened to Hear of the Death of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan on May 13, 2003. Prince Sadruddin was a great humanitarian, philanthropist, and international civil servant.

The National Building Museum in Washington features a colossal hall with Corinthian columns measuring 75 feet high and eight feet wide -- they are among the tallest interior columns in the world. This is where American veterans once lined up to receive their pensions and where most of the presidential inaugurations have taken place since the late 1800s. But, recently, the who's who of architecture gathered in the Great Hall to honour one man and his profound impact on architecture.

The President Was Saddened to Hear of the Death of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan on May 13, 2003. Prince Sadruddin was a great humanitarian, philanthropist, and international civil servant.

Honoured Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen:

I believe profoundly that architecture is not just about building. It is a means of improving people's quality of life. At its best, it should mirror the plurality of cultural traditions and the diverse needs of communities, both urban and rural. At the same time it must employ modern technologies to help fulfill desirable aspirations for the future.

For nearly 50 years, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV has striven to overcome the celebrity gloss of his life story.To 20 million Ismaili Muslims in Asia and Africa, the 68-year-old Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary imam, a spiritual leader who traces his lineage directly from the prophet Muhammad.

The Aga Khan with National Building Museum Chair Carolyn Schwenker Brody, above, before receiving the fifth Vincent Scully Prize at the museum last night for his decades-long efforts to reenergize design in the Islamic world and to preserve historic sites. At left, the prince chats with Scully and his wife, Catherine Lynn.Photo Credit: Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post
Related Article: Aga Khan, Jet-Setting on a Higher Plane, page C01

Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:First I would like to thank Charles Correa and Jim Wolfensohn for their kind words.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it will donate about 5,500 metric tons of U.S. agricultural commodities to the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) for use in Tajikistan under the Food for Progress program. AKF, a private voluntary organization, will directly distribute the donated commodities to an estimated 206,000 people in the Autonomous Oblast of Gorno-Badakhshan. The donation will include approximately 450 metric tons of whole dry milk, 850 tons of vegetable oil, 700 tons of corn-soy blend, and 3,500 tons of wheat flour. AKF plans to provide rations to about 206,000 people.

Aga Khan, the prince of architecture, was honoured for his work in a field that can 'improve the quality of life' and 'mirror the plurality of cultural traditions.'The Great Hall of the National Building Museum is a breathtaking space. The ceiling rises 15 storeys above the floor at its tallest point, and its interior Corinthian columns are among the tallest in the world.

President Bush has said that the US role in Afghanistan will not end when our immediate military goals are achieved. What remains to be done there?
First, Afghanistan will need a government. To be acceptable, a new regime in Kabul must meet four conditions: First, it must represent the entire country and not just one or a couple of its many ethnic groups. Second, it must be out of the terrorism business. Third, it must be committed to wiping out the opium poppy crop. And fourth, it must meet some minimal international standard of human rights.

His Highness the Aga Khan speaking to the Global Philanthropy Forum.