The Council of Europe Museum Prize 2012 goes to the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany

As the Judges have stressed, the museum demonstrates its commitment to serve its multicultural public adults and children alike both in its exhibitions and in numerous festivals and educational activities. All visitors will find something to admire and reflect upon. The museum serves as a window on world cultures but also, and predominantly, describes how cultures are formed and how they perceive one another, through exposure to one another. The museum holds up a mirror to prejudice and takes its visitors on a journey, which is simultaneously beautiful, exciting, clever and sophisticated. The museum maintains an open and inclusive policy, aimed at bridging cultures and transcending social and political borders. Its creative use of cutting-edge information and communication technology establishes the conditions necessary to ensure access by the widest public possible.

The Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded since 1977, in collaboration between the Council of Europe and the European Museum Forum. Museums of any type and size from 47 countries, members of the Council of Europe, are eligible for the prize. Winner receives a trophy, a bronze statuette, La femme aux beaux seins by Joan Miró, which stays with the museum for a year.

The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum was one of 59 museums considered by the Judging Panel for the 2012 European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA), an award scheme operated by the European Museum Forum. According to the procedure, this museum was included in a short list of three candidates submitted by the EMYA Judging Panel to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the Committee made the final decision.

Winner of 2012 European Museum of the Year Award, as well as winners of other awards and prizes associated with EMYA, will be announced at the EMYA Ceremony, which is to be held as part of the Assembly of European Museum Forum in Penafiel, Portugal, on 1619 May 2012.