Granada, Spain, 9 October 1998 - Addressing culture ministers, diplomats, architects, planners and civic dignitaries in the Generalife gardens in the presence of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain, His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, spoke during the ceremony to announce the winners of the Seventh Cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The Aga Khan explained how "skill, knowledge and vision in the realm of architecture were once a hallmark of Islamic civilisations, and central to the identity of their peoples." Loss of this inheritance of pluralism, "--the identity it conveys to members of diverse societies, and the originality it represents and stimulates in all of them will" the Aga Khan warned, "impoverish our societies now and into the future."