European Museum of the Year Award

This article is about a Europe-wide award. For the annual UK-specific award, see Museum of the Year.

European Museum of the Year Award
Awarded for	Unique atmosphere, imaginative interpretation and presentation, a creative approach to education and social responsibility.[1]
Sponsored by	Council of Europe European Museum Forum
Date	April–May
Location	Various European cities
First awarded	1977 (1977)
Last awarded	2021 (2021)
Website	europeanforum.museum
2017 Map of European Museum of the Year Award-winning museum locations

The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum (EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe.^[2] The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European museum sector.^[3][4]

History

The EMYA was founded in 1977 by British journalist Kenneth Hudson, British academic Richard Hoggart, and John Letts, under the auspices of the Council of Europe.^[5] It is considered to be the most important award in its sector,^[3][6] being described by the Network of European Museums (NEMO) as "the longest-running and most prestigious museum awards in Europe".^[4]

The Fonds de dotation de l’ICOM of the International Council of Museums supports the European Museum of the Year Award.^[7]

Awards

Categories

Since 1977, the EMF has presented two main awards:

• European Museum of the Year
• Council of Europe Museum Prize

Three additional prizes were subsequently added to the EMF awards:

• In 2010, the Kenneth Hudson Award for daring achievement.^[8]
• In 2011, the Silletto Prize for community/cultural engagement.^[9]
• In 2019, the Portimão Museum Prize for the most welcoming museum.^[10]
• In 2020, the Meyvaert Museum Prize for Sustainability for "exceptional commitment to social, economic and environmental sustainability".^[11]

Criteria

The EMF state that the European Museum of the Year is based on:

This award goes to a museum which contributes most directly to attracting audiences and satisfying its visitors with unique atmosphere, imaginative interpretation and presentation, a creative approach to education and social responsibility.

— European Museum Forum, (2019).^[1]

The EMF state that the Council of Europe Museum Prize is based on:

This prestigious prize is awarded on the recommendations of the EMYA Judging Panel, by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe to a museum which puts particular emphasis on a clearly understandable presentation of a European perspective and of the interplay between local and European identities, working with themes of European relevance and adhering to key values and priorities of democracy, human rights, tolerance and intercultural dialogue, of bridging cultures and overcoming social and political borders.

— European Museum Forum, (2019).^[12]

Judging

Museums in 47 European countries, all members of the Council of Europe, can take part in the competition if they are newly opened or have undergone modernization or expansion in the past three years.^[13]

European Museum of the Year winners (1977–)

The following are the winners of the main European Museum of the Year award:

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
1977		Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust	Ironbridge	United Kingdom
1978		Schloss Rheydt Museum	Mönchengladbach	West Germany
1979		Museum of the Camargue [fr]	Arles	France
1980		Catharine Convent Museum	Utrecht	Netherlands
1981		Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation	Nafplio	Greece
1982		Museum of Art and History	Saint-Denis	France
1983		Museum Sarganserland	Sargans	Switzerland
1984		Zuiderzee Museum	Enkhuizen	Netherlands
1986		Museum of Medieval Stockholm	Stockholm	Sweden
1987		Beamish Museum	Stanley	United Kingdom
1988		Brandts Museum	Odense	Denmark
1989		Sundsvall Museum	Sundsvall	Sweden
1990		Fourmies-Trélon Regional Ecomuseum [tr]	Fourmies	France
1991		Leventio Museum	Nicosia	Cyprus
1992		State Museum of Technology and Work	Mannheim	Germany
1993		Alta Museum	Alta	Norway
1994		National Museum of Denmark	Copenhagen	Denmark
1995		Olympic Museum	Lausanne	Switzerland
1996		Museum of the Romanian Peasant	Bucharest	Romania
1997		Museum of Anatolian Civilizations	Ankara	Turkey
1998		National Conservation Centre	Liverpool	United Kingdom
1999		French Museum of Playing Cards	Issy-les-Moulineaux	France
2000		Guggenheim Museum Bilbao	Bilbao	Spain
2001		National Railway Museum[14]	York	United Kingdom
2002		Chester Beatty Library[15]	Dublin	Ireland
2003		Victoria and Albert Museum - British Galleries[16]	London	United Kingdom
2004		Archaeological Museum of Alicante	Alicante	Spain
2005		Netherlands Open Air Museum	Arnhem	Netherlands
2006		CosmoCaixa	Barcelona	Spain
2007		German Emigration Center	Bremerhaven	Germany
2008		Kumu Art Museum	Tallinn	Estonia
2009		Salzburg Museum	Salzburg	Austria
2010		Ozeaneum[17]	Stralsund	Germany
2011		Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren[18]	Tongeren	Belgium
2012		Medina Azahara Museum	Córdoba	Spain
2013		Riverside Museum	Glasgow	United Kingdom
2014		The Museum of Innocence	Istanbul	Turkey
2015		Rijksmuseum	Amsterdam	Netherlands
2016		POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews	Warsaw	Poland
2017		Musée d'ethnographie de Genève	Geneva	Switzerland
2018		Design Museum[19]	London	United Kingdom
2019		Rijksmuseum Boerhaave	Leiden	Netherlands
2020		Stapferhaus	Lenzburg	Switzerland
2021		Naturalis Biodiversity Center	Leiden	Netherlands
2022		Museum of the Mind	Haarlem	Netherlands
2023		L'Etno Valencian Museum of Ethnology	Valencia	Spain
2024		Sámi Museum Siida	Inari	Finland

Council of Europe Museum Prize winners (1977–)

The following are the winners of the Council of Europe Museum Prize award:^[20]

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
1977		Fundació Joan Miró	Barcelona	Spain
1978		Bryggens Museum	Bergen	Norway
1979		Municipal Museum Rüsselsheim [de]	Rüsselsheim am Main	Germany
1980		Monaghan County Museum	Monaghan	Ireland
1981		Stockholm Music Museum	Stockholm	Sweden
1982		Åland Museum	Mariehamn	Finland
1983		Joanneum - The Provincial Museum of Styria	Graz	Austria
1984		Living Museum of the Canal du Centre	Thieu	Belgium
1984		National Waterways Museum	Ellesmere Port	United Kingdom
1987		Museum Neukölln	Berlin	Germany
1988		Bavarian National Museum	Munich	Germany
1988		Convent of Las Descalzas Reales Museum	Madrid	Spain
1989		Joods Historisch Museum	Amsterdam	Netherlands
1990		Manuel da Maia Museum of Water	Lisbon	Portugal
1991		German Salt Museum	Lüneburg	Germany
1992		Argenta Marsh Museum	Argenta, Emilia–Romagna	Italy
1993		İstanbul Archaeology Museums	Istanbul	Turkey
1994		Provincial Museum of Lapland	Rovaniemi	Finland
1995		Haus der Geschichte	Bonn	Germany
1996		Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna	Vienna	Austria
1997		Tropenmuseum Junior	Amsterdam	Netherlands
1998		Museum Centre on Strelka	Krasnoyarsk	Russia
1999		Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille	Lille	France
2000		In Flanders Fields Museum	Ypres	Belgium
2001		Helsinki Theatre Museum [fi]	Helsinki	Finland
2002		Buddenbrookhaus	Lübeck	Germany
2003		Laténium	Hauterive, Neuchâtel	Switzerland
2004		Museum of Health Care	Edirne	Turkey
2005		Museum of Byzantine Culture	Thessaloniki	Greece
2006		Churchill War Rooms	London	United Kingdom
2007		International Museum of the Reformation	Geneva	Switzerland
2008		Svalbard Museum	Longyearbyen	Norway
2009		Zeeuws Museum	Middelburg	Netherlands
2010		Portimão Museum	Portimão	Portugal
2012		Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum	Cologne	Germany
2013		Museum of Liverpool	Liverpool	United Kingdom
2014		Baksı Museum	Bayburt	Turkey
2015		Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations	Marseille	France
2016		European Solidarity Centre	Gdańsk	Poland
2017		ACTe Memorial	Pointe-à-Pitre	France
2018		War Childhood Museum	Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina
2019		Museum für Kommunikation Bern [de]	Bern	Switzerland
2020		Museum of Secret Surveillance	Tirana	Albania
2021		Gulag History Museum [ru]	Moscow	Russia
2022		Nano Nagle Place	Cork	Ireland
2023		The Workers Museum	Copenhagen	Denmark

Kenneth Hudson Award winners (2010–)

The following are the winners of the Kenneth Hudson Award:^[8]

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
2010		Museum of Contraception and Abortion	Vienna	Austria
2011		Museum of Broken Relationships	Zagreb	Croatia
2012		Glasnevin Museum	Dublin	Ireland
2013		Batalha Municipal Community Museum	Batalha	Portugal
2014		Žanis Lipke Memorial	Riga	Latvia
2015		International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum	Geneva	Switzerland
2016		Micropia	Amsterdam	Netherlands
2017		Museum of the First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin	Yekaterinburg	Russia
2018		Estonian National Museum	Tartu	Estonia
2019		World Museum Vienna	Vienna	Austria
2020		House of Austrian History [de]	Vienna	Austria
2021		CosmoCaixa Barcelona	Barcelona	Spain
2022		Wayne Modest, Nanette Snoep, Laura van Broekhoven & Leontine Meijer-van Mensch	n/a	n/a
2023		23,5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory, Türkiye	Istanbul	Turkey

Silletto Prize winners (2011–)

The following are the winners of the Silletto Prize:^[9]

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
2011		Watersnoodmuseum	Ouwerkerk	Netherlands
2012		TOPIC International Puppets Center [es]	Tolosa	Spain
2013		Museum aan de Stroom	Antwerp	Belgium
2014		Saurer Museum	Arbon	Switzerland
2015		Familistère de Guise [fr]	Guise	France
2016		Vukovar City Museum	Vukovar	Croatia
2017		Leiria Museum	Leiria	Portugal
2018		Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding [hr]	Betina	Croatia
2019		Shipwreck Museum St. George [da]	Thorsminde [da]	Denmark
2020		14 Henrietta Street	Dublin	Ireland
2021		Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum [tr]	Bayburt	Turkey
2022		Museum of Footwear and Industry [es]	Inca	Spain
2023		Otar Lordkipanidze Vani Archaeological Museum of Georgian National Museum	Vani	Georgia

Portimão Museum Prize winners (2019–)

The following are the winners of the Portimão Museum Prize:^[10]

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
2019		Brunel's SS Great Britain	Bristol	United Kingdom
2020		MO Museum	Vilnius	Lithuania
2021		Gruuthusemuseum	Bruges	Belgium
2022		University Museum of Bergen	Bergen	Norway
2023		Chillida Leku	Hernani	Spain

Meyvaert Museum Prize for Sustainability winners (2020–)

The following are the winners of the Meyvaert Museum Prize for Sustainability:^[11]

Year	Image	Museum	Location	Country
2020		Wadden Sea Centre	Ribe	Denmark
2021		Museum Walserhaus	Bosco/Gurin	Switzerland
2022		Holmegaard Glass Factory	Holmegaard	Denmark
2023		Swiss Museum of Agriculture	Alberswil	Switzerland

See also

• List of awards for contributions to culture
• Europa Nostra
• The Best in Heritage
• Museum of the Year

References

1. "THE EUROPEAN MUSEUM OF THE YEAR AWARD". European Museum Forum. 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
2. European Museum Forum, Council of Europe;
3. Mark Brown (14 May 2018). "Design Museum named European museum of the year". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
4. "Winners of the European Museum of the Year Award 2018". Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO). 14 May 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2019. The EMYA and the Council of Europe Museum Prize are the longest running and most prestigious museum awards in Europe.
5. "HISTORY OF THE ORGANISATION". European Museum Forum. 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019. European Museum of the Year Award scheme was established by three British founders (Kenneth Hudson, Richard Hoggart and John Letts) in 1977.
6. "Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is European Museum of the Year". Museum Boerhaave. 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019. Founded in 1977, this is the oldest and most prestigious museum award in Europe.
7. (in English) "ICOM Endowment Fund and European Museum Forum signed agreement for 2016 - 2019" (PDF). Europeanmuseumforum.info. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
8. "The Kenneth Hudson Award". European Museum Forum. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
9. "EMYA SILLETTO PRIZE". European Museum of the Year Award. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
10. "The Portimão Museum Prize – Europe's Most Welcoming Museum". European Museum Forum. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
11. "The Meyvaert Museum Prize for Sustainability". European Museum Forum. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
12. "THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE MUSEUM PRIZE". European Museum Forum. 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
13. "Becoming a candidate — The European Museum of the Year Award". 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
14. Maev Kennedy (1 May 2002). "Steaming". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
15. Brian Lavery (17 July 2002). "Arts Abroad; An Irish Castle for Religious Manuscripts". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
16. Jonathan Glancey (13 September 2004). "Spiralling into Oblivion". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
17. 2010 European Museum of the Year Award, Tampere, Finland, 19–22 May 2010.
18. "The Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Belgium, won the European Museum of the Year Award 2011" (PDF) (Press release). European Museum Forum. 21 May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
19. Brown, Mark (14 May 2018), "Design Museum named European museum of the year", The Guardian, retrieved 7 July 2018
20. "The Council of Europe Museum Prize". European Museum Forum. Retrieved 20 November 2021.

External links

• EMYA Winners