The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) has been awarded every year since 1977 by the European Museum Forum, operating under the auspices of the Council of Europe. Its aim is to recognise the most interesting events in the European museum scene and to encourage museums to introduce innovations. In recent years, award winners have included the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (EMYA 2015), the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul (2014), the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2000), and the British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (2003). The laureates receive not only the title, but also The Egg trophy by the outstanding English sculptor Henry Moore, which they get to exhibit for a year.
In 2016, the competition jury recognised the POLIN Museum for its core exhibition presenting the thousand-year history of Polish Jews and for the educational, scientific and social programme of the institution. POLIN is the first Polish museum to win the EMYA competition.
Dariusz Stola, the director of POLIN, stated:
The EMYA award is a confirmation that POLIN is among the highest-class museums worldwide. The jury, consisting of outstanding experts, who have seen hundreds of museums across Europe, were captivated by the considered permanent exhibition devoted to the thousand years of Jews in Poland, showing the richness of the culture and the dramatic past. They have emphasised our ability to speak about difficult issues in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding. They have recognised our comprehensive educational and cultural programme, the numerous events addressed to a wide and diverse audience. We are very happy that it's our museum that received this prestigious title and the most significant European prize.
Besides POLIN, this year's edition saw 49 museums from 24 countries competing for the title of best museum in Europe, including Museum of Herzegovina in Mostar, The Finnish Postal Museum in Tampere, MAO – Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, Roman National Museum – Diocletian Baths in Rome, and the FC Porto Museum in Porto. The Micropia Museum in Amsterdam, which presents microbial life, was recognised to be the most original, while the Vukovar City Museum received a prize for ‘excellence in working with the local community and involving volunteers’.
For the first time, the competition included two Polish museums: not only the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN, but the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw and the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, which in December received The Council of Europe Museum Prize 2016.
POLIN was opened in 2013 in the Muranów district in Warsaw. The building's design by a Finnish architectural team headed by Rainer Mahlamaki was chosen in an international competition. Several months later, the museum opened its multimedia exhibition about the thousand-year history of Jews in Poland. The exhibition's concept was developed by British company Event Communications and designed by Polish studio Nizio Design International. The exhibition at POLIN takes space of 4,200 square metres, making it the biggest and the most technically complex exhibition of any Polish museum – it features almost 200 multimedia stations, three server rooms and 200 km of cabling.