EXPLORE THE EMYA2023 WINNERS AND CANDIDATES

European Museum of the Year Award

The European Museum of the Year Award and the series of related awards are given out each year at the annual conference and award ceremony.

The rigorous judging process involving visits to up to 60 museums culminates in an annual conference with the participation of 250 - 300 leading museum professionals, at which the candidates present their museums, the winners are announced, and the underlying values and innovative ideas in the European museum field are discussed, renewed and reinterpreted.

With EMYA’s accumulated 40 years of traditions and insights into the societal and community needs, which drive, create, develop and sustain museums as crucial civic spaces for the exploration of Europe’s heritage, the conference serves as a continuous benchmark for innovation and best practices for the sector.

About the Host

The Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA), which belongs to the Barcelona City Council, is a heritage institution of urban knowledge, polycentric, with museum spaces throughout the city and collections that cover the long history of the city, from the Romans to our time. These heritage spaces support a choral narrative of the urban history of Barcelona that aspires to be relevant both to the citizens of the city itself and to tourists who come from far away. If we are interested in the future, it is worth asking about the choices made in the past.

As a hub for participatory urban knowledge, the museum’s program ranges from research and debates to publications, permanent and temporary exhibitions, urban itineraries and educational projects. The museum aspires to be an agora museum and a school museum and works in cooperation with other institutions and citizen associations. 

To carry out its mission, the MUHBA adopts a multiscale perspective, from neighborhoods to the city as a whole and its insertion into the world. In its role as an R&D&I center in urban history, heritage care and public programming, the museum must be able to disseminate and even export knowledge. The results must be reflected both in the virtual world, understanding the web as a true hub of knowledge, and in museum spaces, face-to-face activities and urban tours.

The Barcelona History Museum (MUHBA) was opened in April 1943. This year, the MUHBA is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its inauguration.