Royal Gold Medal

The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is given for a distinguished body of work rather than for one building, and is therefore not awarded for merely being currently fashionable.

The medal was first awarded in 1848 to Charles Robert Cockerell, and its winners include some of the most influential architects of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1864), Frank Lloyd Wright (1941), Le Corbusier (1953), Walter Gropius (1956), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1959) and Buckminster Fuller (1968). Already with the second recipient, the Italian Luigi Canina in 1849, the award went international.

Not all recipients were architects. Also recognised were engineers such as Ove Arup (1966) and Peter Rice (1992) who undoubtedly played an outstanding role in the realisation of some of the 20th century's key buildings all over the world. Repeatedly, the prize was awarded to influential writers on architecture, including scholars such as the Rev Robert Willis (1862), Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1967) and Sir John Summerson (1976) as well as theoreticians such as Lewis Mumford (1961) and Colin Rowe (1995). It honoured archaeologists such as Sir Austen Henry Layard (1868), Karl Richard Lepsius (1869), Melchior de Vogüé (1879), Heinrich Schliemann (1885), Rodolfo Lanciani (1900) and Sir Arthur Evans (1909), and painters such as Lord Leighton (1894) and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1906). Another notable exception was the 1999 award to the city of Barcelona.

Gold medal

A gold medal is the highest medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. The award concept arose in the military, initially by simple recognition of military rank, and later by decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times.

Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts, for example, by the Royal Danish Academy, usually as a symbol of an award to give an outstanding student some financial freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Many organizations now award gold medals either annually or extraordinarily, including UNESCO and various academic societies.

While most gold medals are solid gold, notable exceptions are gold-plated and often silver-gilt, like those of the Olympic Games, the Lorentz Medal, the United States Congressional Gold Medal (displayed to the right) and the Nobel Prize medal. Nobel Prize medals consist of 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. Before 1980 they were struck in 23 carat gold.

Gold medal awards

This is a list of articles which include the words Gold Medal in their title.

Awards

For a general introductory article about gold medals, including those awarded at the Olympic Games, see Gold Medal

Science and Engineering

Gold Medal (National Eisteddfod of Wales)

The Gold Medal (Welsh: Medal Aur) of the National Eisteddfod of Wales is awarded annually in three categories for excellence in either Fine Art, Architecture or Craft and Design.

Background

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is Wales' most important national cultural event, taking place annually. Its open exhibition of art and craft, Y Lle Celf (meaning 'The Art Space') is one of the highlights of the Welsh arts calendar. Gold medals are awarded in the Visual Arts section for outstanding contributions in different media: a Gold Medal for Fine Art has been awarded since 1951; a medal for Architecture has been offered since 1954 (though withheld and not awarded between 1954 and 1959) and a Gold Medal for Craft and Design has been awarded since 1985.

Other awards handed out are the Tony Goble Award, given to a first time exhibitor, and the Josef Herman Award, chosen by the public (Josef Herman, a Polish emigree, won the Fine Art medal in 1962).

The Architecture award is given in conjunction with the Design Commission for Wales and the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, who advise the Eisteddfod judges.