Zeeuws Museum in the Netherlands wins 2009 Council of Europe Museum Prize

Strasbourg, 09.12.2008 – The Council of Europe Museum Prize for 2009 has been awarded to the Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg in the Netherlands.

The museum, housed in a twelfth century abbey that later served as a regional parliament, presents regional collections in unexpected visual and sensory contexts, relating the local scene to other parts of Europe and the world. Zeeuws is a regional language spoken in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The museum’s focus on “excitement, liveliness, interaction” and its appeal to a younger audience were particularly appreciated.

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.

The prize is decided by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on the basis of a shortlist presented by a jury of the European Museum Forum, and forms part of the European Museum of the Year Awards.

Recent winners include Norway’s Svalbard Museum (2008), Geneva’s International Museum of the Reformation (2007) and the Churchill Museum in London (2006).

Website of the Zeeuws Museum

Website of the Council of Europe Museum Prize

Contact: Christopher Grayson, Head of the Secretariat of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 21 14, christopher.grayson@coe.int