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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 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.

For the first time in its 36 years, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will be dedicated to a single subject: an exploration of the ancient Silk Road, the trade route that linked Asia and Europe, and its influence of its cultures on American life today.From June 26 to 30 and July 3 to 7, visitors to the National Mall can tour a range of exhibits focused on the cultures that flourished along the road from the time of Alexander the Great until the 14th century A.D.

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.

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

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.

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

Charles, through your work you have made an immense contribution to the built environment. Your buildings have brought timeless elegance to societies in the East and the West. Your inspirational use of their many languages of design will speak powerfully to many generations hence. I would also like to sincerely thank you for your contribution over many years to the Aga Khan Award for Architect

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.

Royalty has a knack for putting architecture in the spotlight. Denmark's Queen Margrethe II is known for bestowing a triennial prize, underwritten by the Carlsberg brewery, on leading architects from Europe and Japan. In Britain, Prince Charles is famous for criticizing modern buildings and starting an architecture school dedicated to neo-traditional design.

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.

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

His Highness the Aga Khan meeting with The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Secretary of State, at the State Department.

His Highness the Aga Khan with Mr Walid Hareb, Chief Award Co-ordinator of the Zayed International Humanitarian Award at the Reception following the Keynote address.