Danish open-air site Den Gamle By wins European Museum of the Year Award

The 2026 European Museum of the Year Award (Emya) has gone to Den Gamle By (The Old Town), an open-air urban history museum in the centre of Aarhus city in Denmark.

The winner of the prize was announced on Saturday 13 June at a ceremony in Bilbao at the end of the four-day Emya2026 conference.

The European Museum Forum (EMF), which runs the award, recognised the venue for “redefining the genre” of open-air museums through its “deeply socially engaged and participatory approach”.

According to the EMF, Den Gamle By “centres on everyday people, by everyday people, placing lived experience and contemporary relevance at the heart of its interpretation”.

Featuring costumed interpreters and interactive exhibits, the museum’s streets provide a timeline of Aarhus spanning the 1600s to the 2020s, from the world of Hans Christen Anderson through to the emergence of the welfare society and the modern era.

One recently created pedestrian street offers a snapshop of 2014, including the homes of single woman Rikke and the Isager “rainbow family”, a lesbian couple with three children.

The museum was recognised for its work to actively engage with communities, championing reflection on issues such as empowerment, sustainability and equality, and inviting visitors to “reflect on the world they live in”.

“In this way, the museum positions itself as a dynamic agent of social change rather than merely a site of nostalgia,” said the EMF.

“Through a variety of hands-on interactions, joyful reenactments, and community-driven storytelling, 400 years of the city’s history are brought into dialogue with the present, where important contemporary societal questions take centre stage.”

The EMF said Den Gamle By had distinguished itself through rethinking the open-air museum genre, which it said is “traditionally associated with static displays and historical reenactment”.

“Here, the historic environment becomes a powerful framework for critically engaging with modern realities. Carefully researched narratives address themes such as migration, identity, and social justice, ensuring authenticity while actively challenging simplified or romanticised representations of the past.”

Sustainability is a prominent theme in the museum, which offers activities that include cultivating and promoting heirloom plant varieties, gardening courses, and clothing repair workshops.

“These initiatives link historical knowledge with contemporary ecological practices and behavioural change,” said the EMF.

“The museum extends this work beyond its premises through ambitious outreach initiatives, such as collaborative urban gardening and biodiversity projects, fostering dialogue across diverse communities and encouraging shared responsibility for the environment.”

The EMF paid tribute to the museum’s long-term relationships and outreach projects with communities across the wider Aarhus area, which it said were “built on trust, co-creation, and a refusal to settle for simplified representations”.

“Den Gamle By stands out as the winner of the 2026 European Museum of the Year Award for its ability to transform the open-air museum genre into a vibrant and influential platform for dialogue, reflection, and action,” said the EMF.

“It offers a forward-looking model for mobilising historical environments to address urgent contemporary questions, and sets a new benchmark for innovation, relevance, and public impact in the museum sector.”

Director Julie Rokkjær Birch said winning the prize was “completely overwhelming”.

“It is a huge recognition to receive from the rest of Europe,” she said.

“The award is a tribute to over 100 years of development through a very special spirit in Den Gamle By with a team of dedicated employees who live and breathe every day to give guests the best possible experience.”

Last year’s Emya went to Manchester Museum. Other recent winners include the Sámi Museum in Finland and the Netherlands’ Museum of the Mind.

The 50th edition of the award will take place next year in Bern, Switzerland.

Other prizes

In addition to the Emya 2026, five other prizes have been handed out by the EMF this year.

• Announced in February, the Young V&A was awarded the Council of Europe Museum Prize. The museum was the only UK institution on the shortlist for the Emya this year.
• The Museum of Madness in Slovenia won the Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity. Located in the former Cmurek Castle, a site once used as a psychiatric institution, the museum was praised by the EMF for demonstrating “outstanding institutional courage in confronting a difficult and often marginalised history and challenging the persistent stigma surrounding mental illness”.
• The Silletto Prize for Community Participation and Engagement went to the newly renovated AlpenStadtMuseum in Sonthofen, Germany, which the EMF said “exemplifies shared authorship, deep community engagement, and participatory governance”.
• The Museum of the Rural Civilisation of Mendrisiotto, located in Stabio, Switzerland, won the Portimão Museum Prize for Welcoming, Inclusion and Belonging. The agricultural heritage museum was commended for “coherent integration of accessible design, multilingual communication, hands-on learning, and a genuinely warm human presence”.
• The Museum Prize for Environmental Sustainability went to the new Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva in Finland. “Environmental responsibility is not treated as a separate concern but is thoughtfully embedded in the museum’s core practice, shaping both its curatorial direction and organisational culture,” said the EMF.
• Special commendations went to Tartu City Museum in Estonia, Obersalzberg Documentation Centre in Berchtesgarten, Germany, and Sensoria – the House of Fragrances and Flavour in Holzminden, Germany.