The Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Education and Science decided on December 10th to award The Council of Europe Museum Prize for 2008 to the Svalbard Museum in Longyearbyen, Norway.
12/12/2007 :: Located in Spitzbergen, the museum is the northernmost museum in the world, displaying Svalbard’s 400-year history and explaining the factors which help support life and activities in the Arctic. It also explores the close relationship between the land and the sea, and between natural and cultural history. The jury was impressed by the dynamic and holistic approach of the design of the museum, and by its key message of environmental awareness.
The Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded annually since 1977 to a museum judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding of European cultural heritage. Museums in the 49 countries of the European Cultural Convention are eligible to enter for the prize.
The winning museum will be presented with a bronze statuette, “La femme aux beaux seins” by Joan Miró, which the museum will keep for a year, as well as a diploma and a cheque for 5,000 euros. The presentation ceremony will take place in Strasbourg in April, during the Parliamentary Assembly's spring session.
Recent winners include Geneva’s International Museum of the Reformation (2007), the Churchill Museum in London (2006) and the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece (2005).