Bolnisi Museum receives acclaim at European Museum of the Year Awards after nomination
The venue is located in the southern Georgian town of Bolnisi, which bears the legacy of 19th century German settlers from Swabia. Photo via EMYA 2022
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Bolnisi Museum, a Georgian National Museum network venue unveiled in the country's south two years ago, has received acclaim at the European Museum of the Year Awards after its nomination for the prize earlier this year.
The Awards organisers handed the venue a diploma recognising its share in efforts to increase public involvement in the museum field, the GNM said, with the honour coming at the Awards conference in Tartu.
The European Museum Forum, which hosts the conference and hands out the Awards, has described the Georgian museum as one providing "insight into the history of cultural diversity of the region and its relevance in the global context".
Launched to mark International Museum Day two years ago, the new venue of the GNM network was completed as a "model of the 21st century regional museum" in which "different segments [such] as science, culture, education, and tourism coexist in one space."
It was a delight to welcome the participants of the European Museum of the Year Award conference at the Tartu 2024 reception last week. Hope to see you again in Tartu soon! #Tartu2024 #artsofsurvival #emya2022 pic.twitter.com/BhEpITVZJS
— Tartu 2024 (@Tartu2024) May 11, 2022
Located in the Georgian town of the same name that bears legacy of 19th century German settlers from Swabia, the museum is a major addition to the locality that has seen a reinvigoration of tributes to its original inhabitants in recent years.
In a nod to this context, a multimedia library by the Goethe Institute was unveiled at the new museum with German-language textbooks, a library and visual and audio collections.
Devised in a collaborative effort involving Georgian professionals and their colleagues from a number of German institutions and the University of Toronto, the Bolnisi Museum is seen by the GNM as a "cultural hub" for locals.
Its permanent exhibition area houses natural and historical collections concerning the region, with a specific hall created for the history of the 19th century German settlers in the Kvemo Kartli province.
The partnering German institutions in creating the concept included the German Archaeological Institute, the German Mining Museum (Bochum), the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Also contributing to the work were the Berlin State Museums, the Senkenberg Research Institute and Museum, the University of Tübingen, the Tübingen City Museum and the Union for Preservation of German Cultural Heritage in the South Caucasus.
The Bolnisi Museum was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Awards in late 2021. Georgia was first featured in the awards with a nomination of the GNM network's Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography in 2016. Last year, the Art Palace museum in Tbilisi was nominated for the prize.