The Museum of the Spirit in Haarlem has won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum explores the nature of the human mind in a unique, innovative way.
The museum is located in Haarlem in the monumental Dolhuys, in a building that used to house a psychiatric institute. The collection focuses on stigmas surrounding mental health and seven hundred years of healthcare history. The museum was renovated and reopened in 2020, after a renovation of a year and a half.
In addition, the museum has a gallery in the Hermitage in Amsterdam, aimed at so-called outsider art† “The artists of the Outsider Art Galerie are a bit ‘different’. They often have a mental or psychological disability”, is how the museum describes the works in Amsterdam.
Allard Pierson en Comenius
The jury praised the Museum of the Spirit, among other things, because it embraces being different: “The museum tells stories of people who are stigmatized and excluded from society.” Dozens of European museums were nominated, including the Allard Pierson in Amsterdam and the Comenius Museum in Naarden.
Last year’s winner was the Leiden nature museum Naturalis, which reopened in August 2019 after a four-year renovation. The prize is an initiative of the European Museum Forum, and is awarded to museums that contribute to a better understanding of the world, are innovative and set museum standards.
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