The art museum of Estonia, Kumu, has been named European Museum of the Year.
The new national gallery in Tallinn, which is a symbol of the Baltic country's restored independence after Soviet rule, received the award in a gala ceremony at the National Gallery of Ireland last month. The Science Museum at the University of Coimbra in Portugal won the Micheletti Award for Europe's best science or industrial museum.
Six of the 37 shortlisted museums visited by the judges are in the UK.
"The standard is such that it is harder than ever to be truly outstanding," said Neil Cossons, president of the European Museum Forum, which organises the awards.
The Catharijne convent in Utrecht, the archaeological Museum of Almeria in Spain, and the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in London, were highly commended by the judges.
The Council of Europe award went to the Svalbard Museum of the Arctic environment in Norway.
The new national gallery in Tallinn, which is a symbol of the Baltic country's restored independence after Soviet rule, received the award in a gala ceremony at the National Gallery of Ireland last month. The Science Museum at the University of Coimbra in Portugal won the Micheletti Award for Europe's best science or industrial museum.
Six of the 37 shortlisted museums visited by the judges are in the UK.
"The standard is such that it is harder than ever to be truly outstanding," said Neil Cossons, president of the European Museum Forum, which organises the awards.
The Catharijne convent in Utrecht, the archaeological Museum of Almeria in Spain, and the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in London, were highly commended by the judges.
The Council of Europe award went to the Svalbard Museum of the Arctic environment in Norway.