Special mentions are given to museums that have developed a new and avant-garde facet of their public service and from which other European museums can learn, said the European Museum Forum, the organization of the awards.
“The museum [of Haapsalu Castle] is an example of the renovation of a monumental complex. As a museum entity, it demonstrates the perspective of cultural heritage to exercise comfortable power, stimulating local economies and human ties around a monumental past,” the forum said. said in a statement.
According to Marlen Mouliou, president of the jury, “the Haapsalu Castle Museum is a paradigm of excellence in the preservation of an ancient monument, in this case a vestige of medieval Baltic history”.
It is a style of renewal in the 21st century that combines the absolute respect of its old ‘body’ and its materiality with a modern and inventive design that makes the site completely accessible, both physically and intellectually. The museum is now still a destination where you can appreciate history and culture,” he said in a statement.
The European Museum of the Year award is awarded to renovated museums and rewards the atmosphere; Contribution to the public interest Presentation and creative interpretation of topics; Creativity and innovation in education; social responsibility.
In addition to the title, 4 subcategory awards are awarded and several notable museums are mentioned, such as the Haapsalu Castle Museum in this case, which are designated through their respective branches, but the application and evaluation procedure are long and thorough.
Upon request, two foreign experts will be sent to museums. One of the experts makes a public stopover and explores the exhibition, interacts with the museum and talks about the organization of the renovated museum. make a stopover on — without revealing identity on site or after.
According to Kaire Tooming, director of the museum, Haapsalu Castle is an “museum of objects”; the main exhibition is the castle itself.
“When the exhibition was created, we started from the fact that it is not so much an indefinite exhibition, but a background; this explains the structure of the castle and the history of the Middle Ages at the end of the 17th century,” Tooming. told Estonian World.
Therefore, the exhibition is minimalist, where instead of the same giant old windows and opaque billboards, we have selected answers that less disturb the castle area: the texts of the walls are shown in glass and the exhibitions are distributed among the rooms. of the PC’s attractions, the castle has so-called analog responses: map boxes and copies of original elements that can be touched by visitors, for example,” Tooming said.
“We are offering visitors an architecture. It combines a representative construction of the mid-13th century, a garrison of the Swedish army castle, a trendy stone quarry, a complex of Tsarist ruins, a Soviet-era preference for building copy buildings and fashionable architecture. . We exhibited all this in the castle, ” he noted.
The fashion solution is KAOS Architects, a Estonian studio that was also nominated for the European Union’s Mies van der Rohe 2022 award for his paintings at Haapsalu Castle, which celebrates the excellence of architectural paintings built throughout Europe.
The current COVID-19 crisis has also affected Haapsalu: the museum was closed for 4 months due to the pandemic, but Tooming is positive for the summer and the museum plans to increase the visitor experience.
“Last summer he showed that the wonderful increase in national tourism also reached Haapsalu; Despite the poor start of the year, 40,000 visitors still visited the castle until the end of 2020. I hope visitors will see us back this year. “said Tooming.
“Our recent activities have been geared towards the progression of the guest experience. At the beginning of the summer season, we’ll have an online museum consultant that you can use on your smart device: the variety of languages includes 12 languages, whether textual and audio. “
Tooming added that Haapsalu, a quiet beach in the city of about 10,000 people, about an hour’s drive from Tallinn, is a place to make a stopover for foreign tourists.
“In the years leading up to the pandemic, a portion of the castle’s visitors were foreigners. The foreign tourist here would possibly have a different profile uncovered in the big cities. For example, there are many tourists of nature. ” Bird watching is incredibly popular here as well as the family-friendly tourist circle,” he said.
The European Museum Forum has been awarded the European Museum of the Year since 1977. The winner of the 2021 jackpot is the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands. Only one museum in Estonia has won the biggest prize in the afterlife: the Kumu Museum of Art in 2008.
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