Belgian museums vie for prestigious Museum Prize

Arts and heritage organisation Openbaar Kunstbezit in Vlaanderen have announced the nominations for their annual Museum Prize. Five museums are nominated from each of Belgium’s three regions, and a jury picks one winner from each region. Each winner receives €5,000. Although the prize money is modest, the title – now in its ninth year – has become very prestigious.

The most important criteria for being nominated for a Museum Prize is an institution’s attention to accessibility in presenting its collection and its ability to successfully engage and connect with the public or with specific target groups. Past Museum Prize winners include the Museum of Industry, Labour and Textile (MIAT) in Ghent, Leuven’s M Museum and Brussels’ Musical Instruments Museum and Horta Museum.

Museums nominated in Brussels include Autoworld, with its 100 years of history of the development of the car (pictured); the Bibliotheca Wittockiana bookbinding museum in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe; the new Fin-de-Siècle Museum in the museum district; city museum Broodhuis in Grote Markt and the René Magritte Museum in Jette (not to be confused with the Magritte Museum at the Museum of Fine Arts).

This year’s nominations for Flanders are the Belle Époque Centre in Blankenberge, which immerses visitors in the coast’s glory days; Bruges’ Groeninge Museum, with its six centuries of Belgian art; Gaasbeek Castle in Flemish Brabant, decorated in 19th-century style; Tongeren’s Gallo-Roman Museum, with realistic installations of half a million years of history; and Antwerp’s Red Star Line Museum, an interactive story relating the history of European emigration to the New World.

Finally, nominations for Wallonia include the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACs) in Hornu, long a visitor favourite for its unique location in a former mine; the Museum of Fine Arts in Mons; the Museum of Fine Arts in Liège, which underwent extensive renovations last year and specialises in Belgian work; the Félicien Rops Provincial Museum in Namur; and the Wellington Museum in Waterloo, which tells the story of the fierce battle between the armies of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte.

The public can also vote online for any of Belgium’s museums to win the Public Prize. Children, meanwhile, can vote for museums that appeal to them for a separate prize. The Museum Prize will be announced on June 3.