On Sunday, February 19, 2023, Daniel Libeskind AR’70 will receive the 14th International Peace Prize from the Friends of Dresden at the Semperoper, Dresden’s iconic opera house. Libeskind, who is the first architect to receive this award, was selected, according to the jury, for “a very special part of his work, which can be referred to as memorial architecture…[he has] created an appropriate architectural framework for remembering the victims of the Holocaust, war and terror in recent decades.” 
 
In their award announcement, the Friends of Dresden further note that Libeskind’s “approach leaves no room for ignorance and relativisation. The form, the architecture itself sets the course for remembrance. Whether it is the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the Imperial War Museum in Manchester or the Holocaust Memorial in Amsterdam. His work also includes the Military History Museum in Dresden, whose architecture has become an anti-war museum and the most important place in Dresden for coming to terms with the consequences of militarism and wars.”

The Dresden Peace Prize has been awarded annually at the Semperoper since 2010. Previous recipients include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, war photographer James Nachtwey, former Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, and journalist Daniel Ellsberg.
 
Daniel Libeskind is the founder and principal architect of Studio Libeskind. Renowned for his ability to evoke cultural memory in buildings, Libeskind is informed by a deep commitment to music, philosophy, literature, and poetry, and a desire to create architecture that is resonant, original, and sustainable.
 
Libeskind established his architectural studio in Berlin, Germany, in 1989 after winning the competition to build the Jewish Museum in Berlin. In February 2003, Studio Libeskind moved its headquarters from Berlin to New York City to oversee the master plan for the World Trade Center redevelopment, which is being realized in Lower Manhattan today.

Studio Libeskind is involved in designing and realizing a diverse array of urban, cultural, and commercial projects around the globe. The Studio has completed buildings that range from museums and concert halls to convention centers, university buildings, hotels, shopping centers and residential towers. As Principal Design Architect for Studio Libeskind, Mr. Libeskind speaks widely on the art of architecture in universities and professional summits. His architecture and ideas have been the subject of many articles and exhibitions, influencing the field of architecture and the development of cities and culture.
 
Mr. Libeskind lives in New York with his wife and business partner, Nina Libeskind.