FULL GALA of the TREBBIA Foundation Prague 2023 Pavol Kuban, Alena Miro, Jozef Graf

Trebbia is an international award born in the Prague Church of St. Roch as a natural historical intersection of nearly a thousand years of spiritual development at this site and positive relationships between patrons and creators of cultural values. The French Saint named Roch lived at the turn of 13th and 14th century. He helped in every place of raging plague epidemic. His help seemed like a miracle. In the end, he himself fell ill with the plague and withdrew to a cave on the bank of the Italian river Trebbia. According to the legend an angel appeared and gave him encouragement. The Saint was found by a dog of a noblemen Gothard from Sarmat, the dog brought him a loaf of bread every day. It cured him and he could return to help the suffering people. He died in 1327. Parts of his relics are deposited in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. As an act of thanksgiving for the fact that the plague epidemic evaded Prague, in 1599 Emperor Rudolf II and the Strahov Abbot Jan Lohel initiated the building of a church on the Strahov Monastery grounds, which was dedicated to St. Roch.

Since 1994, this unique space has accommodated the international MIRO Gallery. In 2000, the Gallery has established the European award as an expression of thanks to entrepreneurs, patrons and artists, and named it after the river Trebbia. This award is nowadays presented by the TREBBIA Foundation.