EMYA 2022 CANDIDATES

Innsbruck, AUSTRIA

Natural History Museum Weiherburg

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Natural History Museum Weiherburg opened on March 21, 2021. It is housed in the Weiherburg Castle, a late-Gothic residence, dating back to the 15th century. Directly adjacent and operationally linked to the Alpenzoo Innsbruck, it is located on the mountain slope, above the city of Innsbruck.

The museum acts as an ambassador of nature in the Alps, with a particular focus on biodiversity. The historical rooms of the museum present temporary exhibitions, changing annually. Its first temporary exhibition “Diversity of Tyrol – Ex & Neo” has dealt with simultaneously the natural and anthropogenic extinction processes, including some newly introduced invasive species. This exhibition extends the presentation of some of the species that could be found at the Alpenzoo nearby.

The new museum plans to renew its exhibitions by displaying specimens borrowed from the natural history collections of the Tyroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum (Tyrolean State Museum). This cooperation of the Landesmuseum, the Alpenzoo, and the Natural History Museum Weiherburg has allowed for the first public display of these collections, assembled over nearly two centuries, as well the first natural history presentation in Innsbruck. In preserving these specimens, Natural History Museum Weiherburg benefits from the expertise of taxidermist Peter Morass who was awarded first prize in the 2004 European Taxidermy Competition.

Vienna, AUSTRIA

Jewish Museum Vienna

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The Museum Judenplatz originally opened in 2000 as a branch of the Jewish Museum Vienna. Archaeological excavations conducted in the 1990s in the heart of Vienna led to important discoveries about the medieval Jewish community in Vienna and provided the basis for the opening of the museum. The city square where the museum is located is a memory site itself, hosting also the Memorial to the Austrian Jewish Victims of the Holocaust, as well as remains of a medieval synagogue unearthed
in the 1990s.

The museum occupies the ground floor and the basement of the Misrachi House that throughout centuries belonged to different Jewish families. Today, the House is part of the Zionist Association, hosting also an active synagogue and serving as a meeting place for the vibrant Jewish community of Vienna.

The museum’s new permanent exhibition “Our Medieval City! The First Jewish Community in Vienna”, on display since 2021, provides a valuable insight into different aspects of life of the Jewish community of Vienna in the Middle Ages and its contribution to Austrian society in general. By drawing on research and practice from different disciplines, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the multi-layered nature of historical knowledge and the need to allow for an interpretation of historical narratives through multiple perspectives

Ghent, BELGIUM

Ghent University Museum (GUM)

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Ghent University Museum (GUM) is a new museum dedicated to science and experimentation. It is located in the Ledeganck Complex, constructed in the 1960s as part of the Ghent University, situated within the University Botanical Garden. Renovation of the building started in 2008, and the museum development was completed in 2019.

GUM encourages visitors, scientists, artists, and students alike to connect through critical thinking, while exploring the academic heritage and collections of the university. GUM displays science as a dynamic concept. Visitors don’t just learn about great geniuses or inventions. Instead, they discover that science is the result of imagination, doubt and collaboration. It is the story of how scientists search, how they use their imagination and how they overcome obstacles and are driven by doubt on their path to new insights.

In its exhibitions, GUM allows for collaborations with artists, bringing in multi-layered perspectives on its collections, display, and vision. GUM sees itself as a “forum for science, doubt and art” where visitors can delve into the scientist’s mind, exploring some of the challenges and questions that affect our lives and ways of thinking. It is a museum to explore, to raise doubts and to reflect on preconceived notions of science.

Brussels, BELGIUM

KBR Museum, The Library of the Dukes of Burgundy

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In 2019, the Royal Library of Belgium, located in the heart of Brussels, changed its official name to KBR Museum, and opened its unique collection of illuminated manuscripts from the Dukes of Burgundy to the public in a new interactive display. The new exhibition allows these masterpieces to shine light onto Europe’s medieval history and provide a better understanding of the cultural value and significance of the golden era in which these manuscripts were created. Now, one of the most precious manuscript collections in the world is made accessible to a wide audience.

The museum invites its visitors to choose a profile at the start of their discovery, exploring original documents in one of the preferred ways: as a culture seeker, an explorer, or through a more playful journey. New technology, including tablets and screens, brings visitors closer to the documents by giving a chance to browse through the manuscripts and to magnify each in detail. Visitors can also try out parchment, compose an illuminated manuscript, and learn how modern restorers make copies of ancient books. As the manuscripts are very fragile and require safekeeping, KBR changes its exhibits and items on display three times a year.

Louvain-la-Neuve, BELGIUM

Musée L – University Museum of Louvain

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Located in Louvain-la-Neuve, Musée L, the new museum of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), opened its doors to the public in 2017, in a fully renovated building that is a landmark of post-modern architecture, designed by the Belgian architect André Jacqmain.

Its uniqueness and distinctive characteristics are evident in the open and often unpredictable dialogue, deliberately established between the university’s artistic projects and the natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnographic objects and scientific collections. The museum aims to be an open house by making the university’s heritage accessible to all, challenging visitors’ knowledge, eliciting emotion, and inspiring new approaches in trying to fill in cultural gaps between scientific content, works of art, and educational programs.

Musée L strives to show and stress the importance of creating bridges between distant times, different artistic, scientific theories, ideas and concepts. The diversity of its themes leads visitors to posing questions, both about art and science. Each section of the exhibition shows how, as human beings, we are all connected to the world and to each other, however opposite and distant our forms of expression in science and art may be.

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels), BELGIUM

MigratieMuseumMigration

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MigratieMuseumMigration (MMM) opened in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, near Brussels in 2019. It is a participatory, community-anchored interactive museum about migration, globalisation and multiculturalism, with a particular focus on Belgium. It has been envisioned and created together with immigrants and refugees living in the area, and its focus is on cohabitation in diversity.

MMM encourages citizens of Brussels with migration roots, migrants and refugees to tell and share their personal stories. Through its two core exhibitions “Waves of Migrations” and “Stories”, the museum aims to introduce the historic timeline which traces the main migratory flows in Brussels/Molenbeek and in Belgium, from the World War II to the present day, and reveal the vast series of individual life stories and personal accounts of migrating trajectories to Europe and Belgium. In addition to ethnic diversity, gender, social class and life philosophies, notions of statelessness and intersectionality are also present and explored within these exhibitions.

MMM regularly hosts programmes on cultural diversity and interculturalism, human rights and active tolerance, and provides guided tours in a number of languages. MMM shows the importance of the common values that underpin European integration: freedom, human rights, non-discrimination, tolerance, solidarity, equality, and pluralism.

Konjic, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Woodcarving Museum

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The small town of Konjic became famous for carved wooden furniture and other carved decorative objects in the 19th century when craftsmen and their products were presented at large European exhibitions. Production flourished during the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, between two world wars, when carved wooden furniture was a symbol of luxurious urban interiors in Bosnia and beyond.

The Konjic woodcarving tradition is included in UNESCO´s list of World Intangible Heritage and is now preserved at the Woodcarving Museum, opened in 2019. The historical core of the museum’s exhibition is based on a selection of objects of traditional craft, documents and photographs presented in the house where the workshop of the Nikšić family once operated. The family heirs continue the woodcarving tradition through their company ZANAT (Craft).

The museum raises awareness and educates about the craft and tradition. To link the heritage to the present day, there is a memorial wall of 218 stools with the names of woodcarvers from Konjic, a small workshop, and a presentation of new products. Visitors can experience the history of the craft through its early original forms to the current products of the company, seeing how traditional techniques used a century ago have now been successfully transferred into new creations.

Virovitica, CROATIA

Virovitica City Museum

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The Virovitica City Museum is a regional museum with a complex collection. It is a centre for the regional heritage research, education, and cultural life. It is housed in the Pejačević manor house, a national monument, built in a refined classical manner, surrounded by a park and located in the very heart of Virovitica. With the help of the project ‘5 to 12 for the Castle’, the entire complex went through a comprehensive renovation, becoming a modern and functional public space.

The core of the museum is the new permanent exhibition titled ‘Wood Age’. The show’s narrative is built around the use of wood throughout the human history, and especially in the territory of Virovitica and its surroundings. Wood is a natural resource and is part of our social life. It can be found in houses, churches, furniture, tools, crafts and industry, instruments, arms, works of art. It is practically everywhere. By displaying the use of wood, this museum shares life stories of local inhabitants which become in a way stories of people in general. We see that wood has been here for as long as we know, and it will be here, hopefully, forever as part of our human existence.

Aarhus, DENMARK

Occupation Museum, Aarhus 1940-45

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The Besættelsesmuseet is located in the heart of Aarhus, in a building formerly serving as the town hall, which at the end of the WWII became the Gestapo headquarters. Following the war, it was used by the city police as a station, until eventually being turned into a museum, started by former members of the Aarhus Resistance in 1982. In 2011, the Besættelsesmuseet became a branch of Den Gamle By, known for its interactive exhibits based on everyday life and recreating historical atmosphere in detail. The museum went through a comprehensive redevelopment in 2014 and then additionally from 2018 to 2020.

The museum now serves as a key site for Resistance remembrance in Aarhus. Its new exhibition allows visitors to view and analyse this period of Danish history from a multitude of perspectives, including giving active voices to the enemy. The main objective of the museum is to make the history of the WWII and Resistance relevant to the present day, while making visitors reflect not only on the historical events, but also on the lives of the regular people and the choices that they had to make every day during the war –– and by doing so, projecting these sometimes life-altering decisions onto our own lives today.

Fensmark, DENMARK

Holmegaard Værk

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Holmegaard Værk is a new museum which opened to the public in June 2020 at the premises of the defunct Holmegaard Glassworks factory, one of the key producers of glass in Denmark and Scandinavia since 1825. It is located in Fensmark, a village previously occupied mostly by workers and staff of the factory.

Holmegaard Værk is managed by a self-governing institution Museum Sydøstdanmark (Museum Southeast Denmark), running several other sites in the area. The historic site of the Holmegaard factory, leased from the municipality, and the Holmegaard Glass Collection, donated by the Rosendahl Design in 2010, create the basis of the new Holmegaard Museum.

In the way that it is organised, Holmegaard Værk is indeed a cultural complex. It includes a crafts museum showcasing glass and ceramics design and production; an art gallery, hosting temporary exhibitions; a community and cultural centre, organising various events, classes and workshops; artist studios; and a tourist and information centre for the area. It has already become an important centre for the local community, preserving and sharing the legacy of Holmegaard not just as a glass factory, but also as part of the local identity, deeply associated with the artistic and creative tradition and a brand that is recognised internationally. Holmegaard Værk strives to preserve and foster that tradition and our appreciation of craft, art and creativity.

Holstebro, DENMARK

Holstebro Museum

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Holstebro Museum is a regional museum located in the West Jutland part of Denmark. The museum was established in 1931 as a local history museum. It moved to its current location, which it shares with the Holstebro Kunstmuseum (Holstebro Art Museum) in 1981. The new redevelopment project was started in 2014 with the goal of creating a more comfortable atmosphere for visitors and turning the museum into a meeting point for local residents, as well as showing the connection between Holstebro and the rest of the world. The museum reopened to the public in October 2019.

The museum’s narrative is based around the exploration of the regional identity of the people of West Jutland and the history of Denmark in general. It is deeply rooted in the local culture and traditions –– and is therefore the primary resource for information and material about Holstebro and its region. Its exhibitions are presented in a contemporary and engaging manner, through compelling storytelling, accounting for different perspectives and letting individual stories shine through. The museum sees itself as a regional museum with an international perspective, as seen particularly through its large international shows. Yet it still manages to maintain its ‘local dialect’, both in its display and in its public programmes and community outreach.

Tallinn, ESTONIA

The Estonian Maritime Museum Foundation

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Fat Margaret is a former cannon tower and part of the city wall in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old Town of Tallinn. It is a part of The Estonian Maritime Museum, together with Lennusadam Seaplane Harbour. The museum’s mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of Estonia’s maritime history, nurture respect for and love of the sea through responsibility, cooperation, and openness.

Discovery of two shipwrecks in Kadriorg in 2015 served as an impulse for the museum’s redevelopment project. As part of the renovation, significant new discoveries were made – the excavation work in the courtyard and the lower ground floor of the cannon tower revealed new parts of the former town walls and fortifications. The museum project was adapted and re-designed considering these new findings and research.

Significant work was performed during the restoration of Fat Margaret, where requirements for both preservation on the one hand and functionality and access for disabled people on the other have now been met, accommodating even a small restaurant overlooking the city. Varied exhibits with a focus on objects and their narrative are accompanied by audio-visual content and provide an introduction to Estonian maritime culture and affairs.

Helsinki, FINLAND

Music Museum Fame – The Finnish Music Hall of Fame

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The Finnish Music Hall of Fame is a museum dedicated to Finnish music and popular culture. The museum combines different genres and periods: from symphony to Finnish rap, from folk music to metal, beginning from the 1890s and to the present day. The museum presents this heritage through music, videos, photos, objects and interactive displays, supported by contemporary sound systems and clever technological solutions.

The museum was created with Finnish music afficionados and musicians in mind. The life’s work of some of the most beloved Finnish musicians is highlighted in the core part of the exhibition. It is meant to be renewed annually through collaborations with large musical companies and audiences alike.

The Finnish Music Hall of Fame is a private institution, founded in 2016. The museum is situated in Helsinki’s second biggest city centre Pasila, in Scandinavia’s biggest shopping and entertainment complex. The location allows the museum to be closer to people and is part of the museum’s innovative business and management model. As such, for instance, the Finnish Music Hall of Fame also functions as a concert venue, a restaurant and a centre for collecting music-related memorabilia, attracting and serving people with different interests daily.

Paris, FRANCE

National Air and Space Museum of France

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The National Air and Space Museum of France has been sited at Le Bourget Airport in the North of Paris since the 1970s. The airport now serves only business and private planes, so the museum site has expanded to 12.5 hectares. The two new galleries, dedicated to exhibitions on Pioneers of Flight and the Great War, are housed in the historic 1930s terminal building which has been fully restored to a very high standard, capturing the glamour of the early days of flight. It is mainly funded by the Ministry of Armed Forces, which is the primary sponsor of the museum. It holds a unique collection of objects and explores transdisciplinary themes around aeronautics, aviation and space.

The museum attracts a diverse audience and offers an experience encompassing dream and reality, learning and entertainment, knowledge and experiments. Together with the French Air Forces, it joins the Ministry of Armed Forces in raising awareness, especially among the young generations, of the army-nation connection. The museum is also a site of memory, enabling a better understanding of our past, while maintaining an orientation to the future.

Bolnisi, GEORGIA

Bolnisi Museum of Georgian National Museum

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The Bolnisi Museum is a new scientific, cultural and educational centre of the Georgian National Museum situated in Bolnisi, the capital of the Kvemo Kvartli region, in south eastern Georgia. Since 2020, it has welcomed visitors in its newly built and modern venue.

The museum has the ambition to serve as a hub of diversity and inclusion and a platform where research, education and tourism can interconnect and contribute to the advancement of the local community. The programmes and activities offered by the Bolnisi Museum are varied, intellectually accessible, and are designed to appeal to the widest possible audience and to foster social integration and cohesion within the local population.

The museum has a growing collection of objects from various historical periods, from the early hominins discovered in the region and up to the 20th century. The permanent exhibition displays significant archaeological material from excavations conducted in the vicinity, as well as artefacts related to the migration of the German population to the Bolnisi area, and art from the Georgian National Museum. Bolnisi Museum’s permanent exhibition provides an insight into the history of cultural diversity of the region and its relevance in the global context.

Bonn, GERMANY

Beethoven House

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Beethoven-Haus association was founded in 1889 by 12 Bonn citizens in order to preserve the building where Beethoven was born and establish a memorial place. Only four years later the museum was founded. The museum went through a comprehensive redevelopment for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020. The German Federal Government declared the 2020 celebrations as a “national responsibility and task” and supported the museum’s redevelopment project.

The museum is located in the historic city centre of Bonn, surrounded by some of the original Beethoven-related sites. When entering the listed building at Bonngasse 20, visitors come into an authentic setting. The newly designed exhibition showcases the historic building at its best. Amid numerous historical and personal artefacts, visitors can immerse themselves int the world of Beethoven. Rather than prescribing a certain narrative path, the exhibition enables visitors to stroll freely through the building and, depending on their particular focus or interest, delve into different themes and follow links that have been created between various objects and topics.

Beethoven-Haus is also a venue for international and national congresses and conferences. In addition to regular tours and educational programmes, there are special projects for international researchers, along with thematic exhibitions, concerts and events presenting artists from around the world.

Dresden, GERMANY

Fortress Dresden

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Fortress Dresden is located in the preserved part of the Dresden fortification, one of the oldest monuments in the city and one of the most important cultural heritage sites in Saxony. Construction of the fortifications began in the 16th century and at that time these were amongst the most advanced in Europe. Today, the fortress wall covers the only remaining part of the former bastions. It was renovated and opened to the public with its new exhibition under the name Fortress Xperience in November 2019.

Fortress Xperience is a digital exhibition which presents historical facts in a theatrical manner. Visitors come into the original environment of the monument and can, by using a multimedia system, experience a dramatic interpretation of the fortress’ history as it took place exactly at this location 400 years ago. Twenty-six theatrical stations, all based on original facts, place the visitor at the centre of history. The fortress is never a backdrop for the story but is always the key focus of information and presentation. The historical facts are given by animated images, illustrations, film clips, 3D-animated figures and sound. The theatrically presented history of the fortress creates an emotional contact for each individual visitor with the monument and its history.

Fürth, GERMANY

Ludwig Erhard Centre

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The Ludwig Erhard Zentrum (LEZ) is located in Fürth and is an interactive learning centre and museum about Ludwig Erhard, his concept of the social market economy, and contemporary history and politics. It features permanent and special exhibitions, an educational supermarket for children, events, educational programs and a research institute in partnership with the local university and the ‘ifo Institute’. The heart of the project is Ludwig Erhard’s original birth house which is located nearby in the city centre of Fürth. The comprehensive transformation of the historical house, and its expansion through an addition of a newly constructed building, has created a complex for the study of contemporary history, economics, and politics.

Ludwig Erhard’s biography and economic history up to 1945 are presented in his family house. The new building on the opposite side of the street focuses on Ludwig Erhard as a politician, his concept of the social market economy and the economic and social development of the Federal Republic of Germany. The exhibition shows how the social market economy prevailed in post-war Germany and contributed to the country’s economic success. Exhibition material is presented through engaging interactive media stations and open dialogue installations.

Heilbronn, GERMANY

experimenta

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experimenta is Germany’s largest and one of the most innovative science centres. It is situated in the heart of the city of Heilbronn, next to the river Neckar, in Southern Germany.

As part of this new project, an impressive building of glass and steel has been constructed next to a restored oil-seed storehouse. experimenta’s Science Dome is a unique combination of a theatre and a planetarium with a 360° 3D-dome projection screen, as well as a revolving auditorium and an observatory at the top. In the permanent exhibition, visitors can explore and carry out experiments at the 275 interactive stations, with additional space provided for specially curated exhibitions.

Visitors can try and discover their talents in several hands-on workshops on media and engineering. In addition, experimenta has a wide variety of laboratories offering programs for groups and individuals, from kindergarten age to secondary school students and adults. The Maker Space is a place where young inventors can design, experiment, build and interact with each other, while at the Student Research Centre young explorers are guided through their first scientific projects.

With its wide range of unique stations and experiments, experimenta aims to bring understanding of, and inspire interest in, science.

Stuttgart, GERMANY

Museum Hegel House

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Museum Hegel House is located at the original birthplace of philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in Stuttgart. It went through a comprehensive redevelopment and reopened on 27 August 2020 to mark the 250th anniversary of the philosopher’s birth. With the new Hegel House, the city of Stuttgart encourages its citizens, school groups and students, as well as museum guests from all over the world to engage with Hegel’s philosophy. It aims to make Hegel’s ideas more accessible to a wider public.

A visit to the museum begins on the ground floor with a multimedia installation ‘Hegel for Beginners’, which uses floor-to-ceiling projections and advanced 3D technology. The ‘Hegel’s life and work’ permanent exhibition spans over two floors.

In addition, an escape room ‘The Phenomenology of Spirit’ offers a certain form of introspection and meditation.
In addition to guided tours and a multimedia companion to the exhibitions, the museum offers access to its content with unconventional formats and special co-operations. It works in partnership with various local institutions in Stuttgart, such as bars and clubs, and hosts special events with local hip-hop artists, among other things. The museum offers an interactive digital programme with online live interviews, podcasts, virtual philosophical cocktail evenings and much more.

Corfu, GREECE

Capodistrias Museum – Center of Capodistrian Studies

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Capodistrias Museum is the first and only museum in Greece devoted exclusively to the life and work of Ioannis A. Capodistrias (1776 – 1831), the first Governor of Greece, senior European diplomat, a doctor, politician and visionary. The museum is located in the former family country estate of Capodistrias known as ‘Koukouritsa’, in the middle of the island of Corfu. It offers a journey into the life story of Capodistrias, starting from his childhood in Corfu and until his assassination in Nafplio in the Peloponnese. The story also serves as an introduction into the history of Corfu, modern Greece and Europe.

In 1979, Maria Dessylla-Kapodistrias, mayor of the town of Corfu, donated her family estate of over 13,000 m2 with an 18th-century house and a garden to three cultural institutions: the Corfu Reading Society, the Philharmonic Society of Corfu, and the Society of Corfu Studies. These institutions founded the museum and in recent years developed it into the complex known as the Center of Capodistrian Studies. The museum, which emphasises the atmosphere of the environment and the past, is a modern organisation with the public service role in researching, preserving and presenting the heritage of Corfu through the deep threads that tie it to the Greek and European history.

Reykjavik, ICELAND

Icelandic Museum of Natural History

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Opened in December 2018, the exhibition Water in Icelandic Nature is the first permanent exhibition of the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, established in 2007. The museum is based in a complex called Perlan (‘The Pearl’), outside of Reykjavik. With the height of 25 metres, it is a unique public site, built around six large reservoir tanks holding geothermal water. A visit to Perlan constitutes an introduction to the natural beauty of Icelandic nature, for local visitors and tourists alike. In addition to permanent and special exhibitions, Perlan also holds a planetarium, a café-restaurant, and a 360° observation terrace.

The Water in Icelandic Nature exhibition demonstrates the importance of fresh water as Iceland’s most precious and valuable resource. It utilises various interactive media devices and stations to engage with the audience and present the material in a compelling and easy-to-understand manner, which is often a challenge when it comes to the complex academic information. The exhibits are of various types and many of them are tailored especially towards children. The most unusual aspects of the exhibition are the live aquatic organisms – animals, microbes and plants – which visitors can handle and examine using hands-on tools and microscopes.

Cork, IRELAND

Nano Nagle Place

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This museum celebrates the educational and religious work of Honora “Nano” Nagle (1718 – 1784), who founded a school for the Catholic poor in Cork at a time when this was illegal as a result of the conquest of Ireland by England. She went on to found the Presentation Sisters, an order of nuns which still runs schools in many parts of the world, and which provided the funds required for the project. The four 18th-century buildings which have been restored include one built under Nano Nagle herself, and the original walls now enclose an urban garden, Nano Nagle’s tomb and the nuns’ graveyard. A 19th-century Gothic Revival chapel was added later, as well as a number of extensions to expand the classroom space.

Nano Nagle Place is unusual in that it doesn’t simply preserve the material heritage of religion, but the intangible heritage of spiritually inspired care for the excluded and disadvantaged. Drawing inspiration from Nano Nagle, it aims to be a community museum that champions social justice, inclusion and community education in Cork. Its engagement programmes, such as those for asylum seekers and isolated elderly men, are not separate, but as much part of the museum core as its exhibition displays.

Dublin, IRELAND

Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI)

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The ambition of the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) is to be a new landmark cultural institution in the heart of Ireland’s capital city. MoLI is a creative, collaborative partnership between University College Dublin (UCD), which is Ireland’s largest university, and the National Library of Ireland, with the support of some philanthropic funding. The creation of the museum involved redevelopment and restoration of a complex of buildings and gardens that were the original home of the UCD – two landmark Georgian houses and a Victorian Assembly Hall. Many renowned Irish writers, including James Joyce, Maeve Binchy and Flann O’Brien, studied here. The museum aims to be self-sustaining and does not receive direct funding for operational costs from either partner or from the state.

MoLI celebrates Ireland’s internationally renowned literary culture and heritage from the past to the present, inspiring the next generation to create, read and write. Immersive multimedia exhibitions, priceless artefacts from the collections of the National Library of Ireland, lectures, performances, free-to-access children’s educational programmes, digital broadcasting, research facilities and a courtyard café set in one of the city’s most beautiful and tranquil gardens make the museum a major contribution to the local and international literary landscape.

Lecce, ITALY

Sigismondo Castromediano Museum

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The Sigismondo Castromediano Museum is located in Lecce, the cultural heart of Salento, a territory rich in history within the Apulia region, in the South of Italy. Sigismondo Castromediano, an intellectual and aristocrat who donated his impressive archaeological collection to the local authorities for the benefit of the local population, established it in 1868.

The museum is housed in a 19th-century building which was extensively renovated at the end of the 1970s, following the design of a famous Italian architect Franco Minissi. The renovation resulted in improved accessibility and fluidity of the space, and in creation of new multifunctional social spaces within the museum’s premises.

The new permanent exhibition, inspired and guided by the ideas of fluidity and continuity in the development of the archaeological narrative, was inaugurated in 2019. The exhibition presents the history of Salento from the early prehistoric times to the beginning of the 20th century through five itineraries (the Seascape, the Landscape, the Sacred, the Living, and the Dead), which visitors are invited to explore in any order they prefer. In addition, the museum regularly produces and hosts temporary exhibitions, both indoors and outdoors, organises lectures, panels and art and educational activities for its very diverse audience.

Milan, ITALY

ADI Design Museum

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Inaugurated in May 2021, ADI Design Museum is dedicated to Italian design and positions itself as a new actor in Milan’s rich design oriented urban setting. Located next to Milan’s Chinatown, in a dynamic city environment undergoing transformation, it shares proximity to a number of new cultural organisations and recreational spaces.

The museum project concerns the transformation of an old industrial space previously used as a depot for horse-drawn trams and as an electricity distribution system. The museum preserves, promotes and enhances the cultural heritage, both intangible and material, of the ADI Compasso d’Oro Historical Collection, which includes award winning Italian design products selected by the Compasso d’Oro international juries. The collection, presented in a chronological manner from 1954 to 2020, covers a wide range of issues and areas, such as design for living, design for mobility, design for work, service design, design for an individual, corporate research, design for communication, and social design.

The ADI Design Museum is a welcoming space allowing visitors to explore its rich collections in a pleasant and contemporary exhibition setting. Its young mediator team, eager to welcome and assist visitors, is of especially high calibre.

Alūksne, LATVIA

Aluksne Banitis Station

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Alūksne Bānītis Station is a municipal museum created in 2018 to emphasise the importance of railways in the development of Alūksne city. The museum is situated in the renovated historical railway luggage shed and is the centre of the Alūksne Station Quarter. It includes an exhibition building, a railway restaurant, a hotel, places for concerts, events, meetings and gatherings.

The museum’s main topic is the narrow-gauge railway, which is one of the few examples in Europe that still serves passenger traffic. The exhibition combines railways history with the present, with good interaction of its content and design, making railway history meaningful through personal stories. Visitors can learn about the ways in which the railway connects people, how stations are the places where people meet, wait for their loved ones and start their adventures. Audio-visual content, physical interaction and multimedia layers add to the visitor experience.

It is a small museum with a big influence on the local community and the area, with an active social media presence, engaging activities and a programme for locals and visitors to Alūksne to attend the exhibition more than once. The museum is run with the help of volunteers. It sees its role as emphasising environmental awareness, supporting local tourism and its community.

Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Allard Pierson, The Collections of the University of Amsterdam

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Allard Pierson ‒ The Collections of the University of Amsterdam reopened in September 2020 after four years of redevelopment. A merger of the Allard Pierson Museum and the Special Collections Department at the university, the new museum and knowledge institute operates at the intersection of cultural heritage, education and research. By opening up the buildings, creating a thousand square metres of additional public and exhibition space and though innovative thematic displays, the refurbishment creates a clear connection between the university and the city, between academia and society.

Internationally renowned collections in the fields of archaeology, cartography, Jewish culture, church history, zoology, graphic design, and the performing arts make the Allard Pierson one of Europe’s leading heritage museums. A vast storehouse of knowledge and stories, the collections allow visitors to travel across 10,000 years of cultural history. Students and researchers can consult items in the Reading Room, while at Allard Pierson Live, visitors join specialists and volunteers to study and work on the university’s vast collections. The Allard Pierson welcomes curious individuals who want to acquire knowledge, find inspiration and discover stories behind a multitude of objects –– or just enjoy a coffee and a beautiful view of Amsterdam.

Haarlem, THE NETHERLANDS

Museum of the Mind | Dolhuys

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The ambition of the Museum of the Mind is to show the power and vulnerability of the human spirit. It is based on the belief that participating in society and a sense of belonging, no matter how you look, feel or behave, is essential to our mental health. This message runs like a thread through the museum’s programme which is inclusive and interactive.

The new museum experience, designed in collaboration with the design agency Kossmanndejong, takes place against the impressive backdrop of the 700-year-old building which in the past housed plague victims, lepers and mentally ill. With the aid of a multimedia guide, developed by the media company IJsfontein, visitors hear the centuries-old walls speak. They tell us about centuries of care history, show art, and guide you through various life questions: Who are you? How empathetic are you? And what kind of personality do you have? Visitors can gain insight into how they see and judge themselves and others. The tour ends at the interactive Open Mind installation, where the museum calls on the public to sign the Universal Declaration of the Open Mind. The Museum of the Mind hopes that visitors will go home ‘with an open mind and genuine curiosity about the other’.

Naarden, THE NETHERLANDS

Comenius Museum and Mausoleum

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Known as the Teacher of Nations, John Amos Comenius originated the idea of universal education and of dividing education into approximately our current phases – home, primary, secondary, and university. He was one of the great scholars of the day, with a wide range of interests, who had to remake his home in many countries as a result of religious persecution. He was born in 1592 in Uherský Brod, in what is now the Czech Republic, and died in exile in Amsterdam in 1670. The Comenius Museum and Mausoleum in Naarden promotes his work and legacy. Located in a former medieval church, the mausoleum where he is buried is part of the museum established in the 1930s.

The new permanent exhibition ‘Mundus Comenii’ was made possible through a long-term cooperation with the Czech Republic, as well as contributions from the local municipality. The museum compresses a large narrative of the life and times of Comenius into a small space, including many simple interactives which enable interested visitors to delve deeply into specific themes. It welcomes international visitors who come to honour Comenius and the place of his burial, but also focuses on the national and local community, with whom the museum is increasingly involved.

Bergen, NORWAY

The University Museum of Bergen – Natural History

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The University Museum of Bergen – Natural History reopened in October 2019 after a full renovation, carefully preserving the original setting and atmosphere of the oldest museum building in Norway. The new museum exhibition combines innovative, engaging and open-minded presentations aimed to deliver high-level academic ideas. Envisioned as a platform for dialogue with the public, the intellectual framework of the museum is supported through a deep reflection and analysis on what the new vision of a university museum should be.

Located in the heart of the campus, a short distance from the center of the city of Bergen, this museum has become an extension of the University of Bergen, serving, in a way, as one of its faculties. With its exhibitions, an organic café, a garden open to the local community, a shop aligned with its overall mission, with its regular events and activities and its welcoming feeling, the museum also fulfills its social function of entertainment and recreation. Defining itself as an institution at the intersection of research, collections and communication, it fosters critical analysis and encourages dialogue and discussion. This museum demonstrates that a university can benefit from its museum in serving society by forging knowledge with the active participation of the public.

Oslo, NORWAY

The Fram Museum

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Fram Museum reopened after renovation in May 2018. It is located on the Bygdoy peninsula, west of Oslo. With two ships as its central attractions, this museum tells the story of the Norwegian polar expeditions at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, presenting an important period in the exploration of some of the most remote parts of our planet.

The Fram was the first ship built specifically for polar research. It was used on three separate expeditions: by Fridtjof Nansen to prove the drift of the icecap over the Arctic Ocean, in 1893-96; by Otto Sverdrup who explored the Nunavut archipelago in Canada in 1898-1902; and finally, by Roald Amundsen who used the same vessel to reach Antarctica for his South Pole expedition of 1910-1912. The Gjøa, the second vessel, was the ship in which Roald Amundsen succeeded in the first complete crossing of the Northwest Passage in 1906.
In the new display based on the artefacts collected and reconstructed faithfully in their settings, visitors experience the environment of the Fram during its polar expeditions. The installation is enhanced by an immersive projection which can be viewed from the deck, recreating the atmosphere of the polar journey.

Oslo, NORWAY

The Nordic Bible Museum

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The Nordic Bible Museum (NOBIMU) opened in Oslo on May 31, 2018. It is the only Bible museum in the Nordic region and among the largest in Europe. The ambition of NOBIMU is to make the history of the Bible known to everyone in the Nordic countries. The presentation is focused on the Bible as a book and does not necessarily engage with questions of religion. The museum’s collection reflects the history of various Bible translations and versions throughout Europe in general and the Nordic region in particular, dating from the mid-15th century and to the present day.

The exhibition displays a wide range of editions in different languages and provides a certain understanding of how these books were created through some multimedia. Visitors can see numerous editions and translations of the Bible and be amazed by the smallest edition of the miniature New Testament on display.

The museum’s main attraction lies in some of the historical editions presented, some quite rare, and in an original page of the Gutenberg Bible printed in Mainz between 1450 and 1455. In two interactive zones, visitors can practice printing a text with an old printing press and writing on parchment or papyrus, reminiscent of the practice in medieval times.

Toruń, POLAND

Nicolaus Copernicus House – Department of the District Museum in Torun

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Nicolaus Copernicus House is a complex of two late-Gothic tenement houses in the city of Torun, where Copernicus was born and grew up. The museum dedicated to the great astronomer was originally opened in 1963. The houses went through a comprehensive renovation in 2017–2018. As part of the new permanent exhibition, numerous models were made and the interiors of the house from the 15th and 16th centuries were reconstructed, allowing visitors to go back in time to the age of Copernicus and see the everyday life of a burgher family. Visitors are now given an opportunity to enter previously inaccessible places, especially to the unique truss of the late-medieval building.

The new sightseeing path contains many multimedia features which present important historical information and help to understand some of the complex theoretical issues, e.g. how scientific instruments were applied and used in medieval times. The exhibition includes 3D presentations, videos in 4D technology and augmented reality, holographic shows, and tablets with infographics. There are also replicas of modern scientific instruments so visitors can visualise how they were once used. The museum actively works with schools, kindergartens and various audience groups for which it has prepared special public programmes and educational projects.

Vila Nova de Foz Côa, PORTUGAL

Coa Park – Foundation for the Safeguarding and Development of the Coa Valley

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The Côa Valley is the site of the largest open-air rock art collection from the Palaeolithic period known today. The Côa Museum (under the Côa Park Foundation for the Safeguarding and Development of the Côa Valley) opened in 2010 with the aim of encouraging visitors to go back thousands of years, contextualizing and deciphering the Côa rock art through interactive multimedia, photography and drawing, and the use of images of the engravings and sites.

The museum has undergone a significant expansion and remodelling to enlarge its galleries, temporary exhibition and public education and engagement capacity.
The museum’s original building, created with sensitivity to its location and surroundings, is itself like a large overhanging rock. Its highly interactive galleries are full of the drama of exploration and discovery. There is a commitment to expanding public engagement with science, archaeology and conservation, and to education – at all levels. But what stands out is the inside/outside nature of this museum – it views the valley as the real ‘gallery’ and is deeply committed to people stepping out of the museum (guided on river or trail) and experiencing the valley first-hand, armed with the knowledge and enthusiasm provided by their time inside the museum.

Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The Museum of Cosmonautics

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The Museum of Cosmonautics opened in 1981 and has since become one of the world’s largest scientific and technical museums. Known for its distinctive building design and large exhibitions on space, the museum started its renovation of the first exhibition hall, the ‘Dawn of the Space Age’, in 2019.

The museum’s mission is to preserve and present the history of cosmonautics to visitors of different backgrounds and knowledge levels. The latest renovation has allowed for a development and creation of new visitor areas and an exhibition that makes space history and cosmonautics more understandable and accessible. It tells the history of space exploration through objects and stories of cosmonauts who provide personal explanations to many of the items on view.

The museum’s educational department combines expert engineering knowledge and museum pedagogical experience. The museum has developed a rich cultural programme, with events related to different aspects of space and cosmonautics at a rate of over 600 per year. Its social media posts make space-related topics more relevant to wider audiences from different age groups, with a special focus on the youth. Audiences from around the world can join discussions and talks about space and cosmonautics, uniting individuals who have been and are in space with people who are interested in the subject.

Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The State Historical Architectural Art and Landscape Museum-Reserve “Tsaritsyno”

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Tsaritsyno Estate is an ensemble of palaces and parks dating back to the 18th century and the period of Catherine the Great. The museum’s outdoor area is about 200 hectares. It is visited by over 6.5 million people annually, providing an often-needed escape to nature for the mostly local residents of the city of Moscow.

The museum was originally founded in 1927, then transferred to come under the auspices of the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts for the USSR in 1984. The estate’s park grounds were restored in 2007, and the renewed museum buildings were opened to the public in 2019.

Tsaritsyno’s main focus is on local history, connecting today’s audiences to the heritage and legacy of the place in past eras. The renovation of the parks and exhibitions has been done in an inclusive and thoughtful manner in order to support local inhabitants and communities. The Children’s Museum for young audiences uses high-level standards in scenography and methodology, while the exhibition ‘Tsaritsyno of Catherine the Great’ offers a good example of smart technological solutions where certain artefacts might be inaccessible. The visible changes in the museum’s presentation and activities have created a welcoming environment for learning and experiencing history in a friendly and enjoyable way.

Tschorny Otrog, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The Chernomyrdin Museum

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The museum was founded after the death of the Russian Prime Minister (1992–1998) Viktor Chernomyrdin, to honour his life and activities. The Chernomyrdin Museum opened in 2021 in the birthplace of Viktor Chernomyrdin, in the remote village of Tschorny Otrog, 50 km from Orenburg in southern Russia, becoming the largest museum in the area.

The museum’s mission is to present and analyse Viktor Chernomyrdin’s life and political legacy, his principles and beliefs, focusing primarily on the development and support of the civic and democratic society, and to be a platform for dialogue and discussions. Apart from preserving Chernomyrdin’s heritage (including an art collection, cars, numismatic and other collections) it is also in a way a museum which deals with local history, nature, ethnography and the individual stories of local people. Its activities go beyond just the topics around Victor Chernomyrdin’s life and outside the museum’s walls.

The museum functions as a local cultural centre with a library and archive, a concert and film hall, and a cafeteria with local food. The museum shop helps to support local producers and handicraft. In addition, the museum serves as an information centre of local natural tourism and a pedagogical centre, with its series of activities to empower local youth and support local life and community.

Belgrade, SERBIA

National Museum in Belgrade

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The National Museum in Belgrade, originally founded in 1844 with the aim to collect and preserve cultural heritage for future generations, has assumed throughout the years a prominent role in forging a Serbian national identity. It is the oldest museum institution in Serbia, with the largest and most prominent collection.

The museum’s building, one of the city’s landmarks, has undergone extensive renovation in the recent years. In 2018, it reopened its doors to the public with its new permanent exhibition and a set of programmes and activities with which it seeks to engage with new and diverse audiences.

The new permanent exhibition, featuring thousands of artefacts, highlights the most important historical developments in Serbia and its immediate surroundings, from prehistoric times to the modern era. In addition, it speaks about the artistic tendencies and styles in Serbia and in the broader European context, from the Middle Ages to the modern times. The museum’s rich collections consist of approximately 400,000 items spanning all historical epochs. Altogether, they enable visitors to learn about the diverse cultures and civilizations that have left their mark on what is modern Serbia today.

Cáceres, SPAIN

Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear

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In 2021, the Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear opened a new building, a space specifically conceived to host the Helga de Alvear Collection, considered one of the most relevant international contemporary art collections in Europe. The collector has donated to the region of Extremadura the works she has acquired throughout her entire life and that reflect her passion for and commitment to contemporary art. The gallery is seen as a major contemporary contribution to the cultural offer of the region which has the second lowest GDP per capita in Spain. Its beautiful building is aimed at blurring boundaries between the historical district of Cáceres, a World Heritage Site, and the most modern part of the city, creating a flow between the past and the present.

Coinciding with the inauguration of the new building and the exhibitions, the museum has expanded its educational programme and it offers a wide range of guided visits and workshops for all audiences, with friendly ‘mediators’ greeting visitors. Access to the museum and all activities are free of charge for all, with the aim of bringing contemporary art closer to everyone. The museum continues to receive a high level of visitor satisfaction.

Inca, SPAIN

Museum of Footwear and Industry

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The Museum of Footwear and Industry focuses on the long history of footwear manufacturing in Mallorca, Spain. The museum was inaugurated in 2010 amid rising discontent due to the crisis in the footwear industry and the closure of numerous factories. Since 2018, the museum has been focusing on building bridges with the community, proving that the museum is an ally that is invested in the sector and community.

The Museum hosts temporary exhibitions and has a large permanent exhibition showcasing traditional manufacturing tools, machines from old factories, a collection of vintage shoes, photographs, designs, magazines, advertising material and many art objects, with the voices of the workers themselves.

This is a museum that was all about machines and is now about the local people who have become deeply involved in the museum as their own. This is a museum that changed its story through a process of deep and meaningful local consultation (more than 1000 local respondents), partnerships with local industry and a deep commitment to ‘peopling the museum’ through a complete re-display.
The Museum now runs a traineeship programme, partnering young people with older skilled leather workers and shoemakers. There is growing volunteer programme with locals acting as ‘footwear advisers’, as guides, co-curators, history researchers and cataloguers.

Leon, SPAIN

Gaudi Casa Botines Museum

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Casa Botines, built in 1891-1892, is one of only three buildings that architect Antoni Gaudí created outside of Catalonia. Having long served as the headquarters of a local savings bank, this much-loved local landmark was finally opened to the public in 2019 as the Museo Casa Botines Gaudi. The museum is dedicated to Gaudi, as well as showing the bank’s considerable collection of Spanish art of the 19th and 20th centuries and holding important Leonese archives including Gaudi’s original plans.

This museum with its lively programmes, provides guided introductions to Gaudi’s life and his inspiration for the building; the history of the building itself; the city at the time of its construction; and includes the restored apartments within the building that were occupied by well-known, upper middle class Leonese families, as well as the art collections, and the archives.

The experience here is like opening the doors of a building that were shut tight for many decades and seeing what it had inside. This is no doubt the experience for the local citizens, who now enthusiastically claim it as their own. The Museum has become the second most visited attraction in the large region of Castilla y Leon.

Mont-roig del Camp, SPAIN

Mas Miro Foundation

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Mas Miró is the Spanish surrealist artist Joan Miró’s former holiday home from childhood and throughout much of his life, that also served as the artist’s studio. Fundació Mas Miró’s mission is to promote a greater awareness of the relationship between Miró’s life and work through the context of his emotional relationship to this place. The surrounding landscape played a crucial role in the artist’s development. His deep-rooted sense of attachment to this place served as the source of that inspiration to which he returned again and again.

The building complex consists of the artist’s house and his studio, a chapel, an exhibition and educational space, and a shop. Almost everything in the house and studio has been left as it was shortly before his death in 1983.

Miró spent his summers at Mas Miró throughout most of his life, walking the hills and working long hours in his studio. It was where he regularly hosted friends such as writer Ernest Hemingway and artist, Alexander Calder. The central notion here is of an ‘emotional landscape’, which can not only help give context to the artist’s creative oeuvre, but have a calming effect on visitors too.

Sörmland, SWEDEN

Sormland Museum

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Sörmland Museum is a regional museum for the county of Sörmland, located in the city Nyköping and focusing on the area’s cultural history, arts, craft and design. The museum’s new building complex was constructed and opened to the public in November 2018. The museum is based on the idea of putting people at the centre stage – people of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Visitors experience personal stories behind the objects on display. During daily free and open-to-all tours, visitors can wander through these real-life narratives and explore people’s actual stories presented through the intimate and direct encounters with authentic historical artefacts. In addition, the Storytelling Storerooms are a unique concept where, under the supervision of a tour guide and a conservator, visitors could have a personal hands-on experience with the collection, which provides insightful information and understanding of how the collection has been formed.

The two floors are easy to navigate and fully adapted for the disabled. The museum’s archive and library are open and accessible to the public who wish to conduct research. This, together with a shop featuring unique local products, a good restaurant and the outdoor areas makes the museum an enjoyable and family-friendly place.

Stockholm, SWEDEN

Nordiska museet

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Nordiska museet, located in the heart of Stockholm, presents the Nordic lifestyle and traditions from the 16th century onward. The profile of the museum’s vast collection is cultural and ethnographic objects, with a focus on everyday life, folk art, craft, historical costumes and fashion. In recent years, the museum has gone through renovation of some of its public areas, as well as a notable change in some of its permanent exhibitions.

The Artic – while the ice is melting is a pioneering exhibition project engaging researchers from different disciplines and universities across the Nordic region. The exhibition shows how the warming of the globe affects life for the people in the Arctic and even beyond, posing questions and concerns about sustainability in the region and becoming an important platform for dialogue about the changing environment. The Time Vault is a new exhibition created for children aged 8-12 years, presenting an interactive experience where children can contribute actively to the narrative.

As part of the recent renovations, the museum’s grand entrance hall has also received a visual boost through multimedia projections, the backyard has been transformed into a beautiful green public area, and the museum has made a significant effort in making the building more accessible for the disabled.

Bern, SWITZERLAND

Swiss Museum of the Blind

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The Swiss Museum of the Blind, seeing differently, owned and operated by the Foundation for blind and visually impaired children (and adolescents), is located in Zollikofen, northern Bern, next to the local school for the blind. The museum opened to the public in March 2021. It showcases the 200-year-old history of education for the blind in Europe and especially in Switzerland.

The Swiss Museum of the Blind is not solely about the blind or visually impaired. It is a place where the blind and visually impaired community is positioned as the main narrator. The hands-on display of the museum collection, including educational materials developed and used by the school, in addition to the sensory and practical experiences allow visitors to have an enriching visit and facilitate easy learning. Stories of a number of selected blind and visually impaired individuals, whose paths crossed with the school and the museum in different ways, are also presented within the museum’s exhibition.

The close proximity of the foundation, school and museum forms a multi-functional complex, adjoining a garden and play area where residents from the neighbourhood, mostly children and parents, can share this public space to enjoy their time.

Chur, SWITZERLAND

Cathedral Treasure Museum

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Inaugurated in August 2020, the Cathedral Treasure Museum is located in Chur, the capitol of the canton of Grisons. It houses the cathedral treasures and an important mural cycle from 1543, featuring the Images of Death. Operated by the Cathedral Foundation of the Diocese of Chur, it shares with the Diocese the same premises – the Episcopal Palace, a baroque style building with growing national significance. The Cathedral Treasure Museum, the Episcopal Palace and the Cathedral itself, which stands in close proximity, form together an important historical site and an attractive tourist location.

The museum aims at becoming the cultural centre of the canton’s sacral landscape. The museum space is designed with golden architectural and display features, which reflect and complement the aesthetic characteristics of its collection. Some of the objects in the museum’s collection are still being used occasionally during rituals and religious processions, which certainly distinguishes it from most museum collections.

Cathedral Treasure Museum welcomes visitors and provides information in five languages: German, English, Italian, French, and Romansh. Special attention is given to the inclusion of Romansh, which is considered to be a minority language and recognised as one of the four official languages in Switzerland.

Lens, SWITZERLAND

Foundation Opale

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Fondation Opale, opened in December 2018 in the Swiss canton of Valais, is an art centre dedicated to contemporary aboriginal art from Australia. It occupies a two-storey building in a contemporary architectural style, set in a beautiful environment, offering visitors a peaceful lake view to enjoy. Its mirrored façade produces solar energy and reflects the natural landscape of the museum’s surroundings.

Its collection belongs to Bérengère Primat, the founder and the president of the Foundation Opale, with whom the centre has a permanent loan agreement. This private collection of aboriginal art is one of the biggest in the world, consisting of nearly 1100 art works. In early 2020, the archive of Bernhard Lüthi, a Swiss artist, activist and curator, with a special focus on the history of aboriginal contemporary art, was also handed over to the centre.

The centre does not have a permanent exhibition but instead uses its collection, together with other loaned objects, to develop one major exhibition per year, in addition to one or two smaller special exhibitions that can be visited for shorter periods. Through these exhibitions, Foundation Opale addresses a wide range of themes, including, for instance, the human connection with the nature and land, and collaborates with various Australian art centres and aboriginal communities.

Olten, SWITZERLAND

House of Museums

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Inaugurated in November 2019, the House of Museums is an umbrella organisation bringing together three different museums under one roof: the Olten Museum of Nature, the Historical Museum of Olten (both municipal) and the Archaeological Museum of the Canton of Solothurn (cantonal). Together, they offer a holistic understanding of Olten’s past and present, its nature and history, and the archaeology of the canton.

The project was introduced as a solution to overcome some possible negative impacts that the financial difficulties experienced in 2014 might have had on the Olten’s museums. This intervention made it possible for the three museums to work closely, create synergies, offer a cohesive joint public programme and reduce their operational costs while keeping their collections, exhibitions and educational programmes separate.

The House of Museums has a high-quality presentation, a strong narrative and exhibition design. It offers to its visitors a comprehensive experience that covers a wide range of themes and topics. Its contemporary interpretation, raising questions on societal and environmental issues, facilitates visitors’ engagement with the collections. With hands-on features of its display, interactive installations, manual experiments and pop-quiz sections, the museums encourage visitors to explore more about their region’s history and present.

San Vittore, SWITZERLAND

Museum of Mesolcina and Calanca Valleys

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The Museo Moesano is a regional museum with ethnographic and archaeological collections, established by the Foundation Museo Moesano in 1949. It has the mission of preserving, collecting and enhancing the archaeological, historical, artistic and documentary heritage of the Mesolcina and Calanca Valleys.

The redevelopment project concerns the renovation of the first floor, an area designed as a foyer, and exhibition rooms dedicated to the works of Magistri Moesani, craftsmen and architects from the region who emigrated to north-eastern Europe during the baroque period. Migration is an important part of the story told in this permanent section.

The museum presents itself as not just collection oriented. Most of the Magistri works (buildings, facades, frescos, vitrails, sculptures, paintings) are still outside the museum and can be easily visited.
The museum has strong connections and relations with its local and regional community and environment. An aspiration of the local community to keep the museum alive through voluntary work makes it stand out. Special attention is given to the use of local resources, such as the local crafts, sustainable local materials and techniques. As part of this effort, the museum established a collaboration with a special government programme to retrain and engage local unemployed individuals during its recent renovations.

Wildegg, SWITZERLAND

Wildegg Castle – Museum Aargau

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Wildegg Castle is a 13th-century castle, built in the baroque style, operating under the Museum Aargau along with several other historical sites. The castle’s transformation into a museum and incorporation into the Museum Aargau umbrella was realised through a 10-year masterplan.

With its Speaking Portraits, the Castle presents the lives of its former inhabitants, such as the Habsburgian ministeriales managing the ancestral lands of the Habsburgs and the Effinger family who resided in the castle for over 450 years. The museum tells a wide range of stories and addresses different topics such as the daily life, gender roles, gardening, sustainability, hunting, and nobility in the Habsburg period. Each year, there is a specific theme around which all Aargau museums organise their activities, helping them to connect to each other and offer a stronger collective public programme to attract different audience groups.

The Castle’s partnerships with Slow Food and ProSpecieRara (to bring rare plants and vegetables into people’s lives) and its efforts to preserve the historic site’s original landscape (gardens, vineyard and the surrounding forest) reflect its aspiration in seeking environmental sustainability. It also forms strong ties with the local community, mainly through its volunteer program with more than 100 participants sharing their skills and knowledge with visitors.

Ankara, TURKEY

Ziraat Bank Museum

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Ziraat Bank is one of the oldest state-owned banks in Turkey, established in 1863, which adopted the western model of trade and finance in the then Ottoman Empire. It targeted primarily the agricultural sector of economy, providing financial infrastructure and support to rural areas and farmers. At present, the bank has more that 1800 branches throughout the country in addition to its international outposts. The Ziraat Bank Museum is the first banking museum in Turkey. It originally opened in 1981 in its current site – the General Directorate Building of Ziraat Bank, located in the historical Ulus district of Ankara. The latest reconstruction of the bank’s historical building began in 2017 and was completed in November 2019.

The museum presents the history of the Turkish banking system and its development, exhibiting many antique and historical objects and recreating the atmosphere of the Ziraat Bank in the early 20th century. Thanks to the latest reconstruction project, the premises of Ziraat Bank Museum have been significantly enlarged, adding the basement to its main historical floor area. All spaces have gone through a comprehensive renovation, carefully preserving original furnishings and interior and enhancing it with new digital technology and multimedia, while also reorganizing the exhibition material in a new and more engaging narrative.

Göbeklitepe is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Located in the Taurus mountains of south-eastern Anatolia, close to the city of Sanliurfa, it was one of the places where farming first emerged. The complex is comprised of monumental megalithic structures erected in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic age, c. 9500 – 8200 BC. Distinctive T-shaped pillars are carved with abstract depictions of humans, featuring belts and loincloths, as well as images of various wild animals, providing insights into the system of beliefs of the people who built it. Since the site’s discovery by Klaus Schmidt in 1994, research and studies continue to be undertaken and extensive work has been done under the auspices of Istanbul University, Sanliurfa Museum and the German Archaeological Institute.

The Visitor Welcome Complex was completed in 2017, and a specially designed roof structure above the archaeological site was erected the following year in 2018. Göbeklitepe was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018, recognizing its outstanding universal value as “one of the first manifestations of human-made monumental architecture.” It continues to be a subject of study, analysis and interpretation, shedding new light on the early days of human settlement, while at the same time attracting numerous visitors from across the globe.

Van, TURKEY

Van Urartu Museum

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Van Urartu Museum presents the rich history of the people who have lived in the Van region in the far east of Turkey, from the Paleolithic Period and to the present day. The museum’s main focus, however, is on the history of the Urartu civilization that emerged here around the 9th century BC, and as such, the museum’s key objective is the preservation, study and presentation of the legacy of the Urartu civilization. It has one of the largest collections of artefacts from the Urartu period and serves as an important center of knowledge about the Urartu State.

The museum’s previous building was badly damaged in the earthquakes of 2011. The new Van Museum has been moved from its former premises in the city centre to an area adjacent to the historic Van Castle, at the edge of lake Van. Here, cultural layers of both the Urartu State and the Ottoman Empire still remain present and in sight. The new museum’s foundation was laid in 2012, and the museum opened its doors in August 2019. The new building includes extensive storage, spaces for public programmes, a play area for children, educational studios, conference halls, as well as a cafeteria and an outdoor terrace. The new exhibition area consists of 23 galleries containing artefacts from different periods, organized both chronologically and thematically.

Tunceli, TURKEY

Tunceli Museum

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Tunceli Museum is the regional museum of the Tunceli province, in eastern Turkey. The museum is housed in the oldest functioning structure in the fast-developing town of Tunceli. The premises were built by German and Austrian architects as a state military barracks in 1935. Registration of the site as an “Early Republic Period Building” in 2005 has allowed for the building’s preservation and its new life. The renovated site now includes comprehensive exhibition galleries, conference and meeting halls, library, storage, and museum offices, as well as an open central courtyard used for events. Prior to being transferred to the museum and its recent renovation completed in 2020, the building was for many years used first by the military and other state institutions, as well as a refuge for displaced families, which in many ways has contributed to the cultural significance of this heritage site.

The museum’s mission is to preserve and present the history of the Tunceli province, creating a cultural continuity and connection to the present. It aims to be the focal point of social life of Tunceli, with its unique historical, cultural, and religious heritage and traditions. It also serves as a center for preservation of the local Alevi traditions and heritage.

Kyiv, UKRAINE

Victoria Museum

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The Victoria Museum is a private museum, founded in 2017 by a passionate collector and entrepreneur Victoria Lysenko. Located in a 19th century historical building in the heart of Kyiv, it houses a unique collection of authentic historical costumes, accessories, paintings and household items from the 19th and the early 20th centuries in Ukraine. The museum’s collection includes more than 1,200 authentic objects that represent the daily life of that period. By closely examining trends in costume and styles, the museum’s permanent exhibition allows visitors to immerse themselves in the aesthetics of the bygone era, while also providing them with insights into the social life and structure of Ukrainian cities of the time.

The museum directs particular attention to the costume and style of women. It invites visitors to reflect on what the aesthetically appealing costumes and dresses could tell us about the social norms and constraints that were in place for women then. The museum’s exhibition allows visitors to examine the often challenging yet changing roles of women during that period. Additionally, by highlighting similarities between the Ukrainian and other European costume traditions, the exhibition shows Ukraine positioned firmly within the European continent’s shared history.

Aberdeen, UNITED KINGDOM

Aberdeen Art Gallery

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The Aberdeen Art Gallery was founded 1873. Initially, it was a modest group of rooms, which were greatly expanded in the 1920s with galleries, a sculpture court, a War Remembrance Hall and a performance space, the Cowdray Hall.

The Art Gallery is part of the provision for art and heritage collections held by the Aberdeen City Council. It had been greatly in need of renovation, re-organisation and expansion of facilities, to attract and inform the public and to make the best of its valuable collections. With its mission to bring the best in art to the north-eastern region of Scotland, the new development of the exhibition spaces and infrastructure required significant investments and new architecture.

As part of the latest renovation project, new exhibition and educational spaces were created and visitor facilities upgraded, including environmental control systems, study, storage and art-handling facilities. The exhibition space was redesigned to now display the collections in a new more appealing and contemporary manner, as well as to provide new high-quality temporary exhibition galleries to attract new loan exhibitions. This has already begun despite the interruptions by Covid-precautions during the initial period after the opening, with new special programming and public events already in place.

Greenwich, UNITED KINGDOM

National Maritime Museum

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The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is located in an important complex of historic buildings in the Royal Park, Greenwich, near London. As part of its most recent redevelopment, the NMM has reorganized four galleries within its main building, which were opened to the public in September 2018. A thousand square metres were freed for the exhibitions and rationalisation of circulation through the building was also achieved. The exhibitions are of high quality and backed by deep research, as well as the personal assistance of many descendants of indigenous people whose lives were affected by the British naval contacts and whose stories are now told and presented within the museum’s core display.

One of the renewed galleries deals with the scientific voyages of Captain Cook in his ship called Endeavour – voyages that were not focused on profit and expropriation but were rather driven by passion for discovery and exploration. The displays are rich in navigational instruments, maps, paintings and sketches, ship models and quotes from published personal experiences and accounts, as well as artefacts created by indigenous people. The new exhibitions also include Sea Things, an evocation of the sea, and galleries on the Tudor and Stewart seafarers, on the Arctic exploration and the Pacific Encounters.

London, UNITED KINGDOM

Science Museum, Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries

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The Science Museum, London, is the leading museum of science and technology in a group of affiliated museums in the UK. Its exhibitions explore the sciences for a wide audience with special attention for its young visitors. Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries is the latest major redevelopment exhibition project of the museum, interpreting some 500 years of the history of medicine through the world’s largest and most significant medical collection. The Galleries occupy almost an entire floor that constitutes currently the largest space in the world dedicated to the history of medical science, with approximately 10,000 objects on display.

The Museum aspires to suggest a more humanised approach to the subject of medicine, health and well-being. The human-centred portrait-stories of named individuals, the state-of-the-art interactive games and the use of contemporary art to ignite meaningful conversation among visitors contribute to achieving this objective. Special photographic portraits encourage visitors to encounter the medical stories through a personal lens of selected individuals and follow their stories with compassion. This is a humane exhibition that embraces emotional engagement and social experiences in order to talk about the most universal human experience: life and the continuous efforts for well-being and good health.

Plymouth, UNITED KINGDOM

The Box (Arca Plymouth U.K Ltd.)

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‘The Box’ is a new cultural complex, which brings together three collections, a museum and art gallery, an archive of film and other images and a traditional archive of paper records. Its new building links galleries in a way that provides space and convenient access to the public. At the top of the building is a room designed for the protection of the traditional archive, which appears to be like a giant box, giving the complex its distinctive and popular title. The new building opens onto a plaza, with St. Luke’s Church nearby, serving now as a space for the complex’s art installations.

Exhibitions are of high quality and cover environmental history, archaeology and history of the area, as well as a presentation of its art collections, including a remarkable 18th-century collection of prints and a group of portraits by Reynolds, to take just two examples. Plymouth has a long history of trade and naval warfare, and this too is reflected in an exhibition on voyages, including an exhibition on the subject of the Pilgrims who in 1620 sailed to America in The Mayflower in search of a new life.