03/12/2021 Culture, Science, Education and Media
The 2022 Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded to Nano Nagle Place (Cork, Ireland). The museum was selected by the Culture Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting today.
Nano Nagle Place not only commemorates the educational and religious work of Nano Nagle, who founded a school for the Catholic poor in Cork at a time when it was illegal, but equally it continues the same mission to provide support and care for people in need. The charity which runs the museum continues the order’s educational and spiritual work through the Cork Migrant Centre, providing services for asylum seekers and refugees, and the Lantern, which runs community education and development services.
According to committee representative for the Museum Prize, Roberto Rampi (Italy, SOC), “despite being rooted in the specific religious tradition of Roman Catholicism, with nuns still living on the site, there is a strong sense of caring based on need, not on doctrine. Nano Nagle Place has a very strong and coherent mission which is in line with the Council of Europe’s human rights values and principles”.
The Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded annually since 1977 to a museum judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding of European cultural heritage, the promotion of respect for human rights and democracy, bridging cultures, overcoming social and political borders, broadening visitors' knowledge and understanding of contemporary societal issues and exploring ideas of democratic citizenship.
The prize forms part of the European Museum of the Year Awards. Recent winners of the prize include the Gulag History Museum in Moscow (2021), the National Museum of Secret Surveillance “House of Leaves” in Tirana (2020) and the Museum of Communication in Bern (2019).