The Museum of the Mind in Haarlem has won the 2022 European Museum of the Year award, marking the second year in a row that a Dutch museum has taken home the prestigious international prize. 

European Museum Forum honours Dutch museum with award 

Hosted by the European Museum Forum (EMF), the European Museum of the Year awards recognise various museums across the continent under a number of different categories. While the Council of Europe Museum Prize focuses on the values of democracy and human rights, the Kenneth Hudson Award goes to the museum which is the most courageous in exploring what a museum can achieve. This year’s ceremony was held in Tartu, Estonia earlier this month.

2021 saw the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden named European Museum of the Year, and this year it was the turn of another Dutch city to take home the award. Haarlem’s Museum of the Mind took home the biggest prize of the night as it was named the 2022 European Museum of the Year.

Image: Bastiaan van Musscher via Museum van de Geest.

Haarlem’s Museum of the Mind named Museum of the Year

The Museum of the Mind was praised by the EMF for the way it “explores the nature of the human mind in a uniquely innovative way and epitomises the power of museums in the social fabric,” and was hailed by the jury as “a truly inspiring human-centred institution.” 

Housed in a beautiful building full of history near the city centre, the interactive museum allows visitors the chance to peek inside the minds of an array of artists, writers and scientists. The EMF felt the Museum of the Mind “emphasises the experience of people who are considered ’different’ and helps citizens find new answers about the human condition and cultivate new seeds of hope for a better humanity.”

Thumb via Museum van de Geest.