Launch of the Golden Rose Award - Young Friends of the Musée de Cluny
by Alexis Bracquart, coordinator of the Young Friends of musée de Cluny (Paris), delegate of the Action Youth Group of the FFSAM
The Society of Friends of the Musée de Cluny, founded in 1992, has been awarding the Prix de la Dame à la licorne - Amis du musée de Cluny every year since 2007. The prize is awarded to a book whose main theme relates to one of the Musée de Cluny's areas of interest: history, art history or archaeology.
Noting a real revival of interest in the medieval world, the Young Members of the Society of Friends of the Musée de Cluny have decided to award the Prix de la Rose d'or - Jeunes Amis du musée de Cluny at a dedicated ceremony each year - and for the first time in 2024. The prize is awarded for a work of fiction that is accessible to any public with an interest in the Middle Ages, without any untruths, and that helps to raise the profile of the medieval period.
The prize-giving ceremony took place for the first time on 14th, March 2024 in the early evening at the Musée de Cluny, with a rich programme of events. The event opened with a musical introduction on the Chinese zither by Jiajun Zhang, followed by a solo on the harp by Iphigénie Valentin. A convivial cocktail party brought the evening to a close.
The winners were presented with original trophies designed and created using a 3D scan of the Golden Rose, made possible by hundreds of images of the work on display at the Musée de Cluny, and by a graphic designer, Aurélien Leroy.
Chaired by Florentin Machut, an associate professor of Spanish and doctoral student in medieval Castilian literature, the jury for the Prize is made up of six members, in addition to its Chairman, : Arnaud Besombes, head of corporate finance in the cultural sector; Laurent Hablot, associate professor of history, historian and teacher-researcher, director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, specialist in heraldry; Alice Marion, history student with a passion for the medieval period; Ysée Nicaud, secretary of the Prix de la Rose d'Or and third-year Bachelor's student at Sciences Po Paris; Philippe Plagnieux, university professor of medieval art history at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
For its first edition in 2024, the Golden Rose Award – Young Friends of musée de Cluny has been awarded to the comic strip Ségurant, le chevalier au dragon by Emanuele Arioli, illustrated by Emiliano Tanzillo and published by Dargaud.
In addition to the impressive work involved in researching and reconstructing the medieval tale of a forgotten knight of the Round Table, the jury was impressed by the beauty of the book, the graphic adaptation of the story and the way it was made available to a public with a love of medieval literature and history, or simply looking for a pleasant read.
Easily accessible, the book lifts the veil on the story of a forgotten knight and his desperate quest for a dragon, which intersects with the quest for the manuscripts of the author, Emanuele Arioli - HDR lecturer at the Université Polytechnique des Hauts-de-France, where he teaches medieval literature and language.
Secrets et destinins de manuscrits, by Nicolas Ducimetière (Notari) also won a Silver Rose.
The Young Friends of the Musée de Cluny section was created in 2022 within the Society of the Friends of Musée de Cluny. Alexis Bracquart is its coordinator and organiser of the Golden Rose Award. In addition to cultural activities and initiatives, the more than 150 young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are committed to disseminating and promoting medieval heritage, in particular the collections of the Musée de Cluny, which are honoured by the Golden Rose Award.