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It is a huge honour for me to be with you for the 20th Luigi Micheletti Award Ceremony.

Brescia, as many of you will know, is where Micheletti created his Foundation; it is where eminent experts meet every year, to pick the winner; and it is where I grew up.

I moved away from the city when in my twenties and during this time the city has changed a lot.

But one thing will never change – the same thing which makes Brescia the perfect home for this Award: it is our faith in the power of work and innovation. From when we are little ragazzi e ragazze we are taught about the value of enterprise and industry; about the capacity of men and women to change their own circumstances through their skills and knowledge – and sometimes simply through sheer bloody mindedness.

And all of the institutions which have been celebrated by Micheletti, in the fields of contemporary history, industry and science – in their own ways embody this idea: that people can take control of their world, shaping it and designing it – and we take responsibility for it to.

This is something we believe at the Council of Europe, where we work with our member states to help them build strong societies, founded on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The Council is old friends with the Micheletti Foundation and I am delighted to have been invited here, where I can show our support both for the Foundation as well as  for the European Museum Academy, now responsible for administering the Award.  

The Academy does a huge amount to promote dynamic museums: museums which bring people face to face with their histories and which encourage them to engage, to question, to challenge – so that we become active participants in our historical analysis. In doing so we develop a much deeper understanding of ourselves and of others. As the theme for this year’s award puts it: ‘creative museums, smart citizens’. 

It has not always been the case.

Two centuries ago Europe’s early museums began as platforms for ethnocentric collection. Their job was to glorify the building of a nation and to define a people. They served to cement our self-image.

Then came a period of exoticism: explorers would bring back artifa

cts from far-flung parts of the world.

We would display these pieces in glass boxes, crowding around to be entertained by their novelty, but at the same time affirming our own sense of cultural superiority.

In the post-colonial period, many museums underwent what has become known as a “bad conscience syndrome”, where triumphant national identity made way for self-criticism and guilt.

And then, at some point during the last two decades, there was a realisation of the role museums can play in promoting intercultural dialogue. So not placing one person’s truth above another, but instead showing the interplay between different historical narratives and revealing the function of our own biases and interpretations in the ways we recant our past.

Where we once had only multi-cultural archiving, we now have much more intercultural exchange. 

For me, and for the Council of Europe, this has been a very welcome development – particularly in these fragmented times in which we live. Division and xenophobia are on the march across many of our societies and our cultural meeting points play a vital role in bringing different people together to share in their common heritage. The Council of Europe Museum Prize since 1977 encourages the contribution fo museums to a greater understanding of the rich diversity of European culture. The European Museum Forum, operating under the auspices of the Council of Europe, organises the prize selection.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Luigi Micheletti Award was founded 20 years ago, and since the beginning was associated with the Council of Europe. As a result, the Council of Europe had the opportunity to get in touch with this special part of the European museum world which has proved of special interest for the themes dealt with as well as for the rapid process of innovation in the display and communication techniques which have interested this kind of museums. Industry and science are at the roots of modern Europe and its culture and the aims of the Micheletti Award fit well with the Council of Europe mission to foster policies of protection and enhancement of cultural heritage in the broadest sense of the word. Also in geographical terms there are common views as the Micheletti Award is open to all the countries members of the Council of Europe which is the oldest and largest European organization. From 2011 onwards the system of recruitment of candidates to the Luigi Micheletti Award has changed radically. The Award is now administered by the European Museum Academy and applications are invited from museums of any age. Another innovation which is interesting for the Council of Europe is the enlargement of the scope of the Award to the history of the twentieth century museums. A subject of the greatest importance for raising public awareness of the necessity to know history if we aim at preventing conflicts and sharing memories in our continent.

Micheletti Award nominees and winners do this in inspiring and innovative ways, continually pushing the boundaries and reinventing the museum experience thus paving the way for the museum of the future. I would like to wish all of this year’s contestants the best for this competition, and for the future. And to the Micheletti Award – I wish you another fantastic 20 years.