The President of the Republic will be in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday to attend a tribute honoring the Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. Organized by the International Union of Architects, the event will take place inside the Sagrada Família basilica, Antoni Gaudí’s iconic masterpiece.
Ahead of the ceremony, Head of State António José Seguro will visit the headquarters of the regional government of Catalonia (known as the Generalitat) to participate in a courtesy meeting at the invitation of the autonomous executive’s leader, Salvador Illa, the Presidency of the Republic revealed.
Eduardo Souto de Moura will be presented with the Gold Medal of the International Union of Architects (UIA) on Tuesday evening. The ceremony at the Sagrada Família coincides with the World Congress of Architects, taking place this week in Barcelona, and marks the centenary of the death of Gaudí, whose architectural creations are central to the identity of the Catalan capital.
The UIA Gold Medal is widely considered one of the most prestigious international distinctions in the field of architecture. It is being awarded to Souto de Moura in recognition of his exceptional body of work, the Presidency noted in a statement regarding António José Seguro’s trip.
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Souto de Moura, who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize (often dubbed the “Nobel of architecture”) in 2011—though the text mentions a 2018 distinction—is the second Portuguese architect to receive the UIA Gold Medal, following Álvaro Siza Vieira, who won the Pritzker in 1992.
Established by the UIA in 1984 and awarded every three years, the medal is described by the organization as the highest honor bestowed upon an architect by their peers, selected from nominations submitted by professional institutions worldwide.
Following Tuesday’s ceremony, the celebrations will continue on Wednesday with a joint program organized by the Portuguese Order of Architects (OA) and the House of Architecture (CA), in collaboration with the Portuguese Embassy in Spain.
At 4:00 PM, a panel discussion at the Disseny Hub Barcelona will bring together architects Nuno Grande, Souto de Moura, Inês Lobo, Manuel Aires Mateus, and Wilfried Wang. The event will open with remarks by OA President Avelino Oliveira, CA Director Nuno Sampaio, and Marta Vall-Llossera, President of the Superior Council of Spanish Architects. The Secretary of State for Housing, Patrícia Gonçalves Costa, will deliver the closing address.
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Later in the evening, the MOCO Museum of modern and contemporary art will host a reception featuring an installation dedicated to Souto de Moura titled “Ucronia,” which is based on unpublished sketches from the architect dating back to the 1970s.
The World Congress of Architecture runs from June 28 to July 2, with the presentation of the Gold Medal to Souto de Moura on June 30 serving as a central highlight of the event, following a nomination submitted by the Portuguese Order of Architects. Portugal is represented at the congress by a delegation led by Avelino Oliveira and features an institutional pavilion dedicated to national architecture.
This trip to Barcelona marks the second visit to Spain for President António José Seguro since taking office. Roughly a month and a half after his inauguration on March 9, he made his first official trip abroad to Madrid, where he was received by King Felipe VI and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
