| Home | Guestbook | Email | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Children's Page | Contents | Search | What's New |

His Highness the Aga Khan Honored by WMF's famous Hadrian Award
His Highness Aga Khan's Speech at the Hadrian Award Presentation
David Rockefeller Speech at Hadrian Award Ceremony
Lord Rothschild's Message to His Highness Aga Khan
Cyrus Vance's Remarks
Michel David-Weil's Address


 Remarks by Michel David-Weill
at the Hadrian Award Luncheon
The Plaza Hotel, October 25, 1996

Thank you, Bonnie Burnham.  And thank you, honored guests,
for taking the time and giving so generously to support the
work of the World Monuments Fund and to recognize the
profound achievements of a man of deep learning and vision,
His Highness The Aga Khan.  I also want to thank you on
behalf of my Co-Chairman, Patricia Buckley, who has given so
much time and attention in recent months to ensure the
success of this event.
	I am particularly pleased to have my name associated with
that of His Highness The Aga Khan, because the values he has
so well represented are the ones for which I have so long
admired him.  It is indeed rare to find a man such as The
Aga Khan.  He undoubtedly has an exalted position and great
power because of who he is.  But at the same time he has
shown a sense of duty and a total acceptance of the
responsibilities of his position.  And, along a personal
note, he has managed to accept all possible sites of his
personality -- a private individual, totally at ease in the
United States, where he was educated, or in France, where he
lives a great part of the time; and also a man incarnating
so many of the Islamic values, at ease in his most difficult
job as religious leader of a population who often had to
face all of the difficulties -- and some of the horrors -- of
the twentieth century.  He truly has led a life in
furtherance of a better life for the Ismailites, and as part
of that better life he has understood the importance of the
cultural heritage -- and, first and foremost, the great
beauty -- of Muslim religious building, whose purity and
form, through his efforts, have adapted even better to
modern architecure.  His work is living testimony to the
idea that art and architecture enhance the way we see the
world, and they add immeasurably to the quality of our
lives.
	Today's gathering is eloquent testimony to the broad range
of people and nations which share these values.  I am so
pleased to see here today representatives of nations --
Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey -- whose people have benefited
from His Highness The Aga Khan's work .  And I salute the
World Monuments Fund for its tireless efforts to promote
this vision around the world.

*  *  *  *

Email us

Back to Ismaili Web

Best viewed by Netscape & Microsoft Internet Explorer -- Website designed by Graphics Media
Copyright 1996 All Rights Reserved