The Gulbenkian Heritage Prize - Maria Tereza e Vasco Vilalva, which is valued at 50 thousand euros, was given to the inventory and restoration project of the Brotéria Library in Lisbon. This year, there were 20 applications for the prize, which recognises interventions in movable and immovable culturally significant assets that encourage the protection and recovery of heritage.

According to a statement issued by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation regarding the award, in addition to preservation, the intervention involved making the library accessible to the public, especially the 4,000-book Brotéria Antique Book Fund. The foundation will also give honourable mentions to projects in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Funchal.

Over the course of the previous century, the Brotéria bibliographic collection has been put together, and at this point, it consists of over 160 thousand volumes: 90 thousand books from the General Fund, nearly 4,000 thousand from the Old Book Fund, which includes books published up until 1800, and around 60,000 periodicals. As they shared, the intervention “involved not only the cleaning and stabilisation of all volumes, but also the restoration, by specialized professionals, of the species in the most critical state of conservation”.

Additionally, the award jury stated that this project "contributes to the local consolidation of an important hub of cultural dynamism which, in turn, is linked to the surrounding network of similar institutions," which includes the National Conservatory, the University of Lisbon's Faculty of Fine Arts, the Chiado Museum, the Palace, Church, and Museum of São Roque, the theatres in São Carlos, São Luiz, and Trindade, and the Chiado Museum.