Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, stressed the importance of continuing the Per Artem Ad Deum award:  – The Sacroexpo is ideal for exchanging thoughts, ideas and inspirations. I am pleased that the Per Artem Ad Deum award will continue because art builds spirituality and is a path to discovering God – said the Cardinal.

The agreement aims to promote artistic and cultural paths inspired by spiritual and religious values and  it opens new possibilities for the development of the Sacroexpo by strengthening its position as a key meeting place for the worlds of art, spirituality and education. The Per Artem Ad Deum Award, granted under the Patronage of the Dicastery, has already been awarded to theologian and writer Anselmo Grün and the Spanish painter and co-initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way Kiko Argüello.

Since 2005, the Per Artem Ad Deum award has been granted by Targi Kielce in conjunction with the Pontifical Council for Culture, chaired by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The Per Artem Ad Deum Medal has been awarded to 32 artists or institutions whose artistic achievements and heritage contribute to cultural development and shape man’s spirituality. According to “Praedicate Evangelium”, the new Roman Curia apostolic constitution which entered into force on 5 June 2022, the former Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for Cultures were merged into one body. Thus a new body –   Dicastery for Culture and Education   Subsequent winners of the Per Artem Ad Deum medal are selected under the patronage and auspices of the new institution;

Distinctions will be presented at the ucpoming expo; the 25th International Exhibition of Church Construction, Church Fittings and Furnishings and Religious SACROEXPO is held from 10 to 12 June 2024 in Targi Kielce.

The International Exhibition of Church Construction, Church Fittings and Furnishings and Religious SACROEXPO – for twenty years SACROEXPO has combined the sacred with the business world. Every year SACROEXPO attracts distinguished guests from the world of culture and religion and creates a space for dialogue and exchange. In this spirit, since 2005 the exhibition has hosted the Per Artem Ad Deum Awarding ceremony which was granted the honorary auspices of the Pontifical Council for Culture (from 2005 to 2022). The Medal has been awarded to artists or institutions whose artistic achievements and heritage contribute to cultural development and shape man’s spirituality. Subsequent laureates receive the medal under the auspices of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which was established in 2022. The Per Artem Ad Deum for 2024 under the auspices of the Dicastery was awarded to Kiko Argüello. The medal presentation ceremony was held at the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary in Rome. The event was graded by the presence of Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, who spoke about the beauty of art and culture, as well as the significance of the Per Artem Ad Deum medal:

– Properly experiencing the Per Artem Ad Deum idea requires not only talent but also effort, discernment, the discipline of poverty, prayer, and vigilance. The award bestowed today therefore concerns not only artistic skills, but also the radicalism of the Gospel life. The way Per Artem Ad Deum is the way of God. God himself prepares it and sends it to man. – said Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś in his laudation;

Andrzej Mochoń PhD, Targi Kielce, President of the Board, highlighted Kiko Argüello’s work significance.

 By presenting the medal to Kiko Argüello, we wish to acknowledge his significant contribution to sacred art and his strong commitment to the work of evangelization expressed in the Neocatechumenal Way community. Kiko’s work goes far beyond the boundaries of traditional artistic creation, inspiring and transforming the hearts of people around the world. – said President Andrzej Mochoń.

At the ceremony, the winner of the award, Kiko Argüello, also spoke, referring to the text of “The Idiot” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which says that “beauty will save the world”:

– Christ Jesus Himself is the only true beauty; His love revealed on the cross – love for enemies. Man, created beautiful in God’s image and likeness, sinks into ugliness through sin. Only the saving and gratuitous love of Jesus for the sinner can make him and the entire Church (composed of sinners) beautiful again, like the apocalyptic “New Jerusalem adorned with jewels like a bride for her husband” – said the 2024 Medal winner of the Per Artem Ad Deum.

Father Segundo Tejado also delivered a speech, presenting in detail the figure and work of the medal winner and  emphasised that thanks to Kiko Argüello, religious aod spiritual art is transferred to the heart of the Church to lead man to an encounter with God, among others through the beauty of the liturgy, the interior design of temples, and music.

The full broadcast of the Per Artem Ad Deum award ceremony is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/tmE4Xnx7YeI?app=desktop&si=aoMA78fQImCQ2Q-s

The accolade fellowship has included 32 – outstanding creators masters as composers Ennio Morricone, Arvo Pärt, Wojciech Kilar, and Krzysztof Penderecki, directors Giuseppe Tornatore and Krzysztof Zanussi, architects Stanisław Niemczyk and Mario Botta, sculptors Arnaldo Pomodoro and Wincenty Kućma, and theologian Fr. Stanisław Rodziński and Jerzy Jan Skąpski, mosaicist Alexander Kornoukhov, and theologian and writer Anselm Grün. These personalities transcended the boundaries of time and space with their works and lead us to the transcendent.

The upcoming Per Artem Ad Deum medal will be awarded at the upcoming 26th the  International Exhibition of Church Construction, Church Fittings and Furnishings and Religious Art SACROEXPO. Targi Kielce, 2-4 June  2024.