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Remarks by His Highness the Aga Khan upon receiving The Architectural League of New York’s 2017 President’s Medal

May 19, 2017

New York, NY, USA

I couldn’t accept this wonderful recognition without expressing to you all the deepness of my gratitude and my thanks.
In thinking about the way societies live in the developing world, in the industrialized world, I came to a very simple conclusion: what is the art form that has the most important impact on every society in every part of the world? And the answer is quite simply - architecture

And it seems to me an important conclusion that colleagues of mine, friends, others, should work with me to commit to that art which must and can improve the quality of life of people around the world.

There are many, many challenges and we know all about that. But challenge is part of human life. And I don’t think you or I will bend our knees in front of a challenge. I don’t like bending knees, I dissuade people who have knee problems to work for me. And I still try to ski at my old age.

So I want to thank you for this wonderful evening, to tell you that it’s a very important evening in my life because it is a recognition of an art-form which I believe needs global recognition, needs global attention, needs the best brains that we can mobilize to improve the human habitat for the decades and decades ahead.

Thank you for this wonderful evening.

Thank you