Selecting the Most Significant Cultural Events in the World in 2011

The laureate of this year's Pritzker Prize is Eduardo Souto de Moura from Portugal

16. - The American Golden Globe Award for Best Film was awarded to the film about the beginnings of the social network Facebook titled The Social Network, directed by David Fincher. The film also won in the categories of screenplay, direction, and music.

6. - The famous British rock guitarist and composer Gary Moore passed away at the age of 58.
11. - The International World Press Photo competition for 2010 was won by a shocking photograph of an Afghan woman with a cut-off nose and ears by South African photographer Jodi Bieber.
14. - The Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year surprisingly went to Canadian alternative rockers The Arcade Fire for their third album The Suburbs. The most awards, five in total, including Golden Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the song Need You Now, were won by the country band Lady Antebellum.
19. - The Golden Bear for Best Film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival was awarded to the Iranian drama Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader and Simin: A Separation) by director Asghar Farhadi.
25. - The César Award for Best French Film was given to the film by director Xavier Beauvois Of Gods and Men.
27. - The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences dominated by the historical drama The King's Speech by director Tom Hooper. It received four Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor, which was awarded to Colin Firth. The Best Actress award went to Natalie Portman (Black Swan). The Best Foreign Language Film was the Danish drama A Better World directed by Susanne Bier.
28. - French actress Annie Girardot (79) passed away in Paris.

10. - The French publishing house Gallimard announced that it will publish the collected works of Milan Kundera in the prestigious Pléiade edition.
23. - Famous American actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away at the age of 79.
28. - The Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in architecture, was awarded to Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura.

9. - Famous American film director Sidney Lumet (86) passed away in New York.
18. - The main journalism Pulitzer Prize for public service was awarded to the Los Angeles Times for uncovering a corruption scandal in the city of Bell.

4. - The Spanish Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts for 2011 was awarded to Italian conductor and orchestra leader Riccardo Muti.
15. - The final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, was won by the duo Ell and Nikki from Azerbaijan.
22. - The Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival was awarded to the film The Tree of Life by American director Terrence Malick (67). The lifetime achievement award was given to French film legend Jean-Paul Belmondo.

13. - For a record price of £1.3 million, or 35.51 million CZK (excluding auction fees), a painting by František Kupka titled Movement was sold in London from the collection of American couple Hascoe. It is the most expensive painting sold by a Czech artist both domestically and abroad.
23. - American actor Peter Falk (83) passed away, best known for his role as Inspector Columbo in the series of the same name.

7. - The world premiere of the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 took place in London. It was the last film made based on the book series by J.K. Rowling.
21. - British painter Lucian Freud passed away at the age of 88. The grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud became famous for his realistic portraits and nudes.
23. - Singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse (27) was found dead in her home in London, with a blood alcohol level of 4.16 promille.
30. - The Irish band U2 concluded the highest-grossing tour of all time, named 360°, in Moncton, Canada. The band earned $736 million (12.7 billion CZK) during it, surpassing the previous record held by the Rolling Stones.

28. - The main award of the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Video of the Year was awarded to American singer Katy Perry for the music video Firework.

10. - The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival was awarded to the film Faust by Russian director Alexander Sokurov.
18. - The series Mad Men and Modern Family won the Emmy Awards for Best Dramatic and Comedy Series, respectively, awarded by the International Academy of Television Arts in Los Angeles. The series Mad Men won in the prestigious category for the fourth consecutive time.
18. - A day before his 99th birthday, German conductor Kurt Sanderling passed away in Berlin.
21. - The American band R.E.M. announced the end of their activities. The band solidified its place in rock history over its 31-year existence and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
27. - In Los Angeles, the trial began against Dr. Conrad Murray, accused of the involuntary manslaughter of singer Michael Jackson. Murray was sentenced to four years in prison.
27. - Film director Roman Polanski received a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

6. - The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Swedish surrealist poet and translator Tomas Tranströmer.
6. - The Czech Pavel Haas Quartet won the prestigious award from the British magazine Gramophone for Recording of the Year for Antonín Dvořák's String Quartets, as well as an award for Best Chamber Recording.
9. - Former Beatles member Paul McCartney got married for the third time. In London, he married his long-term girlfriend Nancy Shevell.
12. - Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg presented the Gratias Agit Award in London to British playwright of Czech descent Tom Stoppard for promoting the good name of the Czech Republic abroad.
13. - The renowned British magazine Art Review named the most influential artist of the year as persecuted Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei.
15. - An Iranian appeals court upheld a six-year prison sentence against internationally recognized director Jafar Panahi for his anti-government activities.
18. - The Man Booker Prize for an English-language novel was awarded to Brit Julian Barnes for the book The Sense of an Ending.

2. - The novel debut of Alexis Jenni, L'art français de la guerre (French Art of War), won the prestigious French Goncourt Prize.
6. - The announcement of the European Music Awards (EMA) by MTV in Belfast, UK, was dominated by American singer Lady Gaga. She won in four categories, including Best Artist and Best Song.
8. - At the auction house Christie’s in New York, a photograph titled Rhine II by German photographer Andreas Gursky was sold at auction for a record sum of $4.3 million (81 million CZK).
9. - The National Gallery in London opened the largest exhibition of works by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci to date.