This morning June 11-13, 2008, opening round in the Kurhaus in Merano: Protagonists on the stage beside the patroness of the congress, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, the representatives of the women's museums from all over the world, the congressional hostesses - the Women's Museum of Merano with the organization team and the Senegalese partner's museum - and the supporters of the great event. Lastingness and network work - the objectives.

The oldest women's museum of Italy, the Women's Museum of Merano turns 20 and celebrates her birthday with a big event which will leave traces with this 1st International Women's Museum Congress. About half of the women's museums worldwide are present with delegations in Merano and demonstrate in the Kurhaus this morning how colored this women's reality is: About 100 participants from all five continents populate during the next days the spa city. They come from Argentina, Mexico, Australia, China and Vietnam, USA, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and of course from Italy, but also from Sudan and from Senegal.

The eagerly expected Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2003) Shirin Ebadi proved in her brief inaugural address that Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are ambassadresses and have to fulfill their life long assignment which reaches far beyond the their duty of lecturing: viz. to protect human rights, to attach utmost importance to democracy and equal opportunities and to present it to the general public whether with or without support of the own country and its regime. After the inauguration during the press conference, she spoke about the difficulties which she is still facing in Iran and the ignoring of her work and her person. She continued to report on the power of the words and the powerlessness of the women in their everyday battle for more justice - and not only in Iran. She declares that religion is often abused in addition to justify patriarchy and to stick to the status quo.

Shirin Ebadi who speaks only Persian was attended by her translator the Iranian Ella Mohammadi who lives in Italy for 28 years and who always went everywhere with her during their sojourn in South Tyrol.

The idea of creating a "roped party" with a rope as a linking element was liked: Instead of a ribbon cutting ceremony pieces of a rope were knotted by the participants to symbolize the goal in a lively manner: to create and to continue a network which expands more and more across the borders and continents, thereby collecting further centers in view of respecting other cultures and women’s everyday life.

Especially because of Shirin Ebadi, a 3rd middle school class from Silandro arrived: The kids had worked in the course of the school year under the guidance of their art teacher Irmgard Schaller on a project which picked out peace as a central theme. As a result of this effort, a T-shirt had come out which portrayed Shirin Ebadi. The youngsters gave a T-shirt with the portraits to Ebadi.