Manchester Museum named European Museum of the Year 2025

Manchester Museum has been recognised as one of Europe’s leading museums after winning the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) 2025.

The annual prize is one of the most prestigious museum awards in the world, and Manchester Museum is the first university museum to receive it, earning recognition for the way it balances globally-significant academic research with community engagement and social responsibility.

The Museum, which re-opened in February 2023 after a £15m redevelopment with the spectacular Golden Mummies of Egypt exhibition, has been met with universal praise.

The institution, one of the UK’s largest university museums, holds about 4.5 million objects. Its original neo-Gothic building was designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse, who also designed London’s Natural History Museum.

Manchester Museum named European Museum of the Year 2025

Judges praised how Manchester Museum has ‘reimagined its mission, acknowledging and addressing its complex history by redefining the role of its collections and public programmes.’

Its approach to co-curation was cited as part of this, working with local and diasporic communities to bring new perspectives to collections and challenge traditional narratives.

The South Asia Gallery, a British Museum partnership, is a key element of this, co-curated with 30 inspiring community members from across the South Asian diaspora, who were able to tell their own stories in their own words and on their own terms.

The gallery showcases more than 140 historic artefacts from the collections of the Manchester Museum and British Museum, alongside  contemporary commissions and personal objects provided by the collective.

Manchester Museum was also praised for ‘thoughtful, informed, and impactful community engagement, creating a truly inclusive space where all individuals, regardless of identity or background, can see themselves reflected and represented.’

The Manchester Museum Celebrates programme of events, created in collaboration with charities, faith organisations and community activists, aims to build understanding between cultures, bringing people together to celebrate culturally-significant events such as Lunar New Year, Vaisakhi, Africa Day and Iftar.

Meanwhile, the Museum’s Top Floor has been transformed into a social and environmental justice hub, creating a space for collaboration with charities and non-profit organisations helping Greater Manchester’s communities take action on the issues they care about.

It acts as the headquarters for Pinc College, a specialist creative education college for neurodivergent young people, aged 16 to 24.

These initiatives are part of a wider, values-led transformation, underpinned by a £15 million redevelopment, which was completed in February 2023.

Esme Ward, Director of Manchester Museum

Esme Ward, Director of Manchester Museum, said: “Museums have the power to be empathy machines, bringing generations and communities together to build understanding, while confronting the past with honesty and transparency.

“More than ever before, we need museums that are values-led, imaginative and confident about what they stand for.”

The European Museum Forum (EMF)

Operated by the European Museum Forum (EMF), EMYA recognises new or redeveloped museums that showcase the best in excellence and innovation in their field.

It aims to recognise museums that promote intercultural dialogue and community participation, demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, and show creative and imaginative approaches to the production of knowledge.

Previous winners include Sámi Museum Siida in Northern Lapland, Finland, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, Netherlands, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The Design Museum in London, and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Manchester Museum won the main prize in the face of competition from 41 other shortlisted museums from across the continent.

The award was presented on Saturday 25th of May, during the EMYA2025 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony at the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białistok, Poland.

What’s on at Manchester Museum?

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