The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA), organized by the European Museum Forum (EMF), has been presented this year for the 37th time, with the 2014 Award Ceremony hosted by the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn. The award goes to a museum for work with the local community and involvement of volunteers.

Two Turkish museums received awards this year. The EMYA for 2014 went to Turkey’s Nobel laureate writer Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence in Istanbul. The museum received the trophy “The Egg” by Henry Moore, which it will keep for one year.

“The Museum of Innocence can be seen simply as a historical museum of Istanbul life in the second half of 20th century. It is also, however, a museum created by writer Pamuk as an integral, object-based version of the fictional love story of his novel of the same name. The Museum of Innocence is meant as a small and personal, local and sustainable model for new museum development. It inspires and establishes innovative, new paradigms for the museum sector,” according to the statement by EMF.

The Council of Europe Museum Prize 2014 went to the Baksı Museum in the eastern province of Bayburt. The museum won the trophy “La femme aus beaux seins by Joan Miró,” which it will keep for one year.

The EMF explained why the award went to the Baksı Museum, saying, “The Baksı Museum brings rural life into dialogue with the urban, traditional culture into contact with contemporary lifestyles and brings together traditional crafts with contemporary art.”

Hurriyet Daily News