At a ceremony held at Skopje, the results of the European Museum Academy Micheletti Award and the DASA Award were announced.
34 European museums entered the competition and Riga Motor Museum was named as one of the ten finalists competing for the main prize. The Micheletti Award was presented to the GPO Witness history visitor centre, Dublin, Ireland. The DASA Award this year goes to the Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen.
Director of Riga Motor Museum acknowledges that "it is pleasing that Riga Motor Museum, which has attracted thousands of visitors from Latvia and other countries, has now also gained a very high international recongnition from the best museum professionals of Europe".
Judges comment about Riga Motor Museum:"Displaying more than 100 bicycles, motorcycles and cars in nine thematic collections, the museum has put the vehicles in context and relates them to something to do or watch, telling stories by means of interactive displays, touch screens, historic displays and 3D cartoons. Texts are in Latvian, Russian and English. There is an area devoted to the Soviet era, where visitors can look through the windows of a building and watch scenes of everyday life in the 1980s. There is also a virtual drive in a passenger bus going to a wedding on a Soviet collective farm, with the driver explaining daily life at the time. The museum values education very highly and there is a classroom where students learn about automotive history, engineering and road traffic safety. This is a museum of contemporary history as well as of industry"
The criteria for evaluating museums are concentrated on those aspects of a museum which – more than the quality of the exhibitions, of the building, etc. - contribute most directly to attracting and satisfying visitors beyond their expectations. It has always been considered essential for one or two members of the judging panel to visit each candidate, as it is felt unwise to rely solely on printed material and photographs when making final decisions.
