Helsinki City Museum nominated for New museum of the year

News

Helsinki City Museum is running for New museum of the year (Europe) in the Leading Culture Destinations Awards.

The Leading Culture Destinations Awards recognise and celebrate the new breed of museums, galleries and cultural institutions worldwide and aim to shine a light on the most exceptional contributions to cultural life that museums and similar institutions have to offer, and to showcase emerging destinations of equal significance.

The new Helsinki City Museum, opened in May 2016, has been nominated for New European museum of the year. The other candidates in the category are Tate Modern Switch House in London and Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, Netherlands. Other categories in the LCD Awards concern for example the best exhibition, architecture, shop, restaurant and digital museum.

The shortlist is drawn up from the nominations of the 100-plus Ambassadors, LCD’s own exhaustive research, the recommendations of cultural planning consultancy Lord Cultural Resources, and the choices of a select Jury. The Jury casts its final vote to declare the winner in each category in the end of September.

Museum Director Tiina Merisalo from Helsinki City Museum is thrilled about the nomination. – It is great that Helsinki City Museum has been recognised in the LCD Awards where museums are looked at as social hubs, says Merisalo. – That is exactly what we aim at in our museum – for visitors to be able to not only visit exhibitions, but also to shop, hang out or work. We wanted to create an overall experience which starts on the street and continues into the courtyards and all spaces inside the museum, including the lobby, meeting rooms and even toilets.

Entry is always free to the Helsinki City Museum. The museum was opened at the corner of the Senate Square in the oldest part of Helsinki on 13 May 2016. In less than four months, the museum has attracted over 190 000 visitors.