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Sámi Museum named European Museum of the Year 2024
Indigenous museum wins for ethical participation and inclusive practices, as Museum of the Home and Museum of Making are also recognised
The Sámi Museum Siida in Finland is the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award (Emya) 2024.
The prize was announced at the European Museum Forum conference in Portimão on 4th May.
The Indigenous museum, which is based in the town of Inari in the Sámi Homeland, opened in 1998 and is one of Northern Lapland’s most popular tourist destinations. The judges for Emya 2024 said it “distinguishes itself by enabling ethical participation and inclusive conservation practices”.
The Emya was established in 1977 under the Council of Europe to acknowledge excellence within the European museum community.
In her acceptance speech at the awards, Sámi Museum director Taina Pieski said: “Sámi Museum Siida, as an Indigenous museum, is primarily for the Sámi people themselves. But we are extremely pleased to see how our Sámi story resonates with the entire European museum community and people around the world.”
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In a statement, the museum thanked its ancestors for their strength, love and support: “We hope that this award gives us strength to continue our important repatriation work for our community. For this work, we need the support of the entire European museum community so that the artefacts of our ancestors return home to Sápmi [the Sámi people's name for their traditional territory].”
Fifty museums were nominated for the awards this year. As well as the overall winner, the European Museum Forum announced a number of other awards.
The Council of Europe Museum Prize, which recognise museums that uphold democracy and human rights, went to Sybir Memorial Museum in Poland, which tells the story of successive deportations of people from Poland during the Soviet occupation.
Two UK institutions were among the winners: the Museum of the Home in London picked up the Meyvaert Museum Prize for Environmental Sustainability for its work to provide "visitors and the broader community with a historical and positive outlook on sustainability and environmentally minded practices".
The Museum of Making in Derby received a special commendation for "how it uses industrial heritage in a participatory way to enhance the skills of its visitors".
Prizewinners
The Council of Europe Museum Prize
Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok, Poland
The prize recognises museums that have: contributed significantly to upholding human rights and democratic citizenship; to broadening knowledge and understanding of contemporary societal issues; and to bridging cultures by encouraging inter-cultural dialogue or overcoming social and political borders.
It was awarded to the Sybir Memorial Museum for its “ability to convey history through workshops, events, media, publications and new formats is impressive and brings it to a broad audience”.
The Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity
Ihor Poshyvailo, director general, Maidan Museum, Ukraine
The prize is to a museum, group or individual to celebrate courageous, at times controversial, museum practices that challenge and expand common perceptions of the role and responsibilities of museums in society.
It was awarded to Ihor Poshyvailo, director general of the National Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and Revolution of Dignity Museum (Maidan Museum) in Ukraine, for being “the driving force behind numerous initiatives to safeguard museums and heritage sites across Ukraine by mobilising resources and expertise to protect priceless artefacts and historical landmarks”.
The Portimão Museum Prize for Welcoming, Inclusion, and Belonging
Salt Museum in Messolonghi, Greece
This prize celebrates a friendly atmosphere of inclusion, where all elements of the museum, its physical environment, its human qualities, its displays and public programmes, contribute to making everyone feel they are valued and respected and belong in the museum.
It was awarded to the Salt Museum in Messolonghi, Greece for being “a place full of heart, humility, and a prevailing willingness to make a difference”.
The Silletto Prize for Community Participation and Engagement
Kalamaja Museum in Tallinn, Estonia
The Silletto Prize for Community Participation and Engagement celebrates a deep, continuous and empowering involvement between a museum and its stakeholders, that places the museum as a point of orientation and reference at the centre of its communities, whether these be local, national, global or otherwise defined.
It was awarded to the Kalamaja Museum in Tallinn, Estonia – a small, community-driven city museum that “empowers its citizens by actively listening, enabling, and caring”.
The Meyvaert Museum Prize for Environmental Sustainability
Museum of the Home in London, UK
This prize is conferred on a museum that shows an exceptional commitment to reflecting and addressing issues of sustainability and environmental health in its collecting, documentation, displays and public programming as well as in the management of its own social, financial and physical resources.
Awarded to the Museum of the Home in London for its “commitment to environmental sustainability [that] sustains how it works with different audiences, fosters responsible consumption, and provides its communities with a historical and positive outlook on the changes in technology and approaches to recycling and sustainability over the decades”.
Special commendations
Special commendations are given to museums that have developed a new and innovative approach in specific aspects of their public service and from which other European museums can learn.
- Zoom Children’s Museum, Vienna, Austria
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), Antwerp, Belgium
- Memorial of 1902 I Frank A. Perret Museum, Martinique, France
- National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
- Museum and Memorial in Sobibór. German Nazi Extermination Camp (1942-1943), Department of the State Museum at Majdanek, Włodawa, Poland
- Museum of Making, Derby, UK