Museum Prize

Euskararen Etxea, the House of Basque Language, receives the 2025 Museum Prize at a Strasbourg ceremony

During a special ceremony held on 7 April 2025 in the chamber of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, the 2025 Council of Europe Museum Prize was awarded to Euskararen Etxea, the House of Basque Language, in Bilbao, Spain. The award was announced last December by PACE’s Culture Committee.

Congratulating the winning museum, the PACE President praised its contribution to democratic resilience and inclusiveness: “The Euskararen Etxea offers a powerful and unique perspective on Europe and European identity, seen through the lens of a minority language. It carries a strong message of hope for the future.”

He described the museum as “a grassroots initiative with inter-generational activities to promote the revival, transmission and use of the Basque language,” adding that it provides “a collaborative working space for local associations and individuals to develop projects to promote the language and related activities”.

Expressing her thanks, the museum’s Director, Iurdana Acasuso, said: “Today I stand happily in the hemicycle of the Parliamentary Assembly, and I share with you the pride of showing the Basque language to the world once again.”

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 Sybir Memorial Museum in Bialystok, Poland (2024), the Workers Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark (2023) and Nano Nagle Place in Cork, Ireland (2022).