With great joy, the European Museum Forum shares the decision by the CoE on the 2025 Winner of the Council of Europe Museum Prize.

Selected by the Culture Committee, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting on 3 December 2024, Euskararen Etxea, the House of the Basque Language, Bilbao, Spain wins the prize.

The Basque Language Interpretation Centre (Euskararen Etxea) is a unique cultural space dedicated to the Basque language, its history, and the stories of resilience and identity associated with it. The museum's focus is on the intangible heritage of the Basque language, offering visitors an immersive experience that goes beyond objects to reflect the deep emotions, challenges, and resistance tied to the Basque culture. It provides an opportunity to explore the Basque language's significance, evolution, and role in fostering community.

The Centre is committed to accessibility, offering its content in Basque, Spanish, French, and English. This multilingual approach not only ensures that a diverse audience can engage with the exhibition, but also emphasizes the interconnectedness of European languages and cultures. The Centre encourages visitors to explore the similarities and mutual influence between languages, providing a deeper understanding of European linguistic diversity.

Being an important part of the European Museum of the Year Award scheme, the Council of Europe Museum Prize is awarded to a museum which puts particular emphasis on European perspectives and the interplay between local and European identities, on a commitment to and presentation of key value of democracy, human rights, inter-cultural dialogue, of bridging cultures and overcoming social and political borders. For more information on the Council of Europe Museum Prize please visit the Awards section of our website.

The 2025 winners in other categories will be announced at the EMYA2025 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony that will take place in Białystok, Poland from 21 to 25 May 2025. More information on the EMYA2025 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony can be found here.

You can read below the full announcement by the Council of Europe.

Council of Europe announcement - 03.12.2024

The 2025 Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded to Euskararen Etxea (the House of the Basque Language) in Bilbao, Spain. The museum was selected by the Culture Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting today.

The House of the Basque Language is a small museum, located in a working-class neighborhood outside the centre of Bilbao. The museum showcases the challenge of preserving a language. Visitors can listen, read and sing in the Basque language. The exhibition is presented in four languages – Euskera, Spanish, English and French – which allows visitors to trace the similarities and mutual influences between these European languages.

According to the committee representative for the Museum Prize, Constantinos Efstathiou (Cyprus, SOC): “The Euskararen Etxea is a grassroots initiative with inter-generational activities to promote the transmission and use of the Basque language. It is a ‘big-little museum’, with only three permanent staff members who manage many activities and a network of partners, including the University of Bilbao, and many civil society associations.”

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, the promotion of respect for human rights and democracy, bridging cultures, overcoming social and political borders, broadening visitors' knowledge and understanding of contemporary societal issues and exploring ideas of democratic citizenship.

The prize forms part of the European Museum of the Year Awards. Recent winners of the prize include the Sybir Memorial Museum in Bialystok, Poland (2024), the Workers Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark (2023) and Nano Nagle Place in Cork, Ireland (2022).

Source:

https://pace.coe.int/en/pages/museumprize
https://pace.coe.int/en/news/9701/euskararen-etxea-the-house-of-the-basque-language-in-bilbao-spain-wins-2025-council-of-europe-museum-prize