The Hungarian Money Museum at Széll Kálmán Square has won the European Museum Academy (EMA) Grand Prize, as the Academy’s 20-member international jury decided. The 34 museums from 20 countries competed in the Timișoara (Temesvár) final on Saturday evening. For the first time, a Hungarian institution has won the top prize.
The award
Economx reported that the DASA Award, which recognises the importance of museum education, was awarded to a Hungarian museum this year. EMA considered many aspects when selecting the winner, such as the exhibition content, user-friendly exhibition spaces and effective museum education. In the competition for the prestigious award, the Hungarian Money Museum was among the top three, along with other exceptional museums. Among the top museums were Forum Wissen in Göttingen, Germany and the Carmen Thyssen Málaga Museum in Malaga, Spain.
Why the jury picked the Hungarian museum?
All the museums competing for the award have something special to offer visitors. However, the jury could obviously choose only one museum as the winner. This year, for the first time, the Hungarian Money Museum won the Grand Prize. The jury’s reasoning goes like this:
The Money Museum provides visitors with an interactive and entertaining introduction to the financial processes, the basic rules of money use and the activities of the Hungarian National Bank. The use of cutting-edge equipment and the exhibition’s organisational practices make visitors aware that the way money works can be made understandable to everyone.
The Hungarian Money Museum
According to Eszter Hegár, Director of the Money Museum and Visitor Centre, the museum has welcomed over 135,000 visitors with 50 spectacular installations in the year and a half since its opening. You can read our article about the opening of the museum HERE. Last year, the institution was named one of the best museums by the Centre for Museum Education and Training. This year, it was awarded the Best of Budapest and received the Community Museum Award. All the exhibitions and programmes at the Money Museum are free of charge, and so is the Panorama Terrace, which is connected to the Experience Centre. Many people visit the Money Museum simply for the Panorama Terrace, which offers a spectacular view of the Hungarian capital. You can read our article about the Panorama Terrace HERE.