The Louvre, the Uffizi, the National Gallery. When it comes to world-famous museums, Europe is absolute chock-a-block with them. But among these titans of history, art and science are also more unsung heroes, and it’s time they got their flowers too.
Now one museum in the north of England has been named the best museum in Europe at the prestigious European Museum of the Year Awards 2025. The Manchester Museum is officially the European Museum of the Year 2025.
The Manchester Museum, which is part of the University of Manchester, is the first university museum to win the lofty accolade. Open since 1888, the museum is best known for its collection of natural history and human artefacts. It also contains Egyptian mummies, and is the only place in the world out of Panama where you can see tiny variable harlequin toads.
Manchester Museum is only the second British museum to win the award since it was started in 1977 – London’s Design Museum clinched the title in 2018. The Manny muso was chosen from a shortlist of 42 institutions.
The prize is given to a museum that represents the best in innovation and excellence. In recent years Manchester Museum has been at the forefront of conversations around representation, repatriation and confronting the truths of empire and colonialism in museums.
In the awards, judges praised how Manchester Museum had ‘reimagined its mission, acknowledging and addressing its complex history by redefining the role of its collections and public programmes’. It also lauded the museums for its ‘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.’
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.’
First look: inside the mind-blowing new V&A East Storehouse in Stratford.
The leafy Scottish city that is one of the world’s best cities for green spaces.
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