Bruges St. Johns Hospital enters race for Top European Museum Honor

Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Bruges St. Johns Hospital enters race for Top European Museum Honor

The European Museum Forum announced the EMYA2026 nominees. Thirty-five museums are nominated by the EMYA Jury to take part in this year's edition.

Bruges St. Johns Hospital is one of Europe's oldest preserved hospital buildings with masterpieces by the Flemish primitive Hans Memling and surprising contemporary artworks by artists such as Berlinde De Bruyckere and Patricia Piccinini.

The EMYA2026 winners will be announced on Saturday, 13 June at the EMYA2026 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony that will take place in Bilbao from 10 to 14 June 2026. Organised by the European Museum Forum and hosted by Euskararen Etxea and its Basque Language Interpretation Centre —the 2025 winner of the Council of Europe Museum Prize— this event will bring together the EMYA community: past candidates and winners, partners, friends, and this year’s nominee museums.

The nominated museums:

Museum St John’s Hospital

Bruges, Belgium

Den Gamble By. National Open-Air Museum of Urban History and Culture

Aarhus, Denmark

Kaj Munk Museum, part of the Ringkobing Fjord Museums

Ulfborg, Denmark

Children’s Museum Miiamilla, branch of Tallinn City Museum

Tallinn, Estonia

Tartu City Museum

Tartu, Estonia

Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva

Lahti, Finland

Museum of Play

Espoo, Finland

Pile Dwellings Unteruhldingen

Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, Germany

Samurai Museum Berlin

Berlin, Germany

State Archaeological Collection

Munich, Germany

Sensoria – The House of Fragrances and Flavours Holzminden

Holzminden, Germany

AlpenStadtMuseum Sonthofen

Sonthofen, Germany

Obersalzberg Documentation Center

Berchtesgaden, Germany

Research Center – Tsitsanis Museum

Trikala, Greece

Museum of Ethnography in Budapest

Budapest, Hungary

Latvian National Museum of Literature and Music

Riga, Latvia

National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights

Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Museum of Engineering and Technology in Krakow

Krakow, Poland

MUDE – Design Museum

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon Museum – Pimenta Palace

Lisbon, Portugal

Museum of Madness Institute

Trate, Slovenia

Galactica

Arcos de las Salinas, Spain

La Unión Mining Museum

La Unión, Spain

Villena Museum MUVI

Villena, Spain

ArkDes

Stockholm, Sweden

MuMAPS. Museum of Art Mechanics and Heritage

Sainte-Croix, Switzerland

Ski Museum – Le Boéchet

Les Bois, Switzerland

La Muette – Literary Spaces

Pully, Switzerland

Museum of the Rural Civilization of Mendrisiotto

Stabio, Switzerland

CERN Science Gateway

Meyrin, Switzerland

Museum Henry Dunant

Heiden, Switzerland

Kunsthaus Baselland

Basel, Switzerland

Zeyrek Çinili Hamam Museum

Istanbul, Türkiye

Seddülbahir Fortress

Çanakkale, Türkiye

Young V&A

Main Image: Bruges St. Johns Hospital