(JHE) — Mazel tov to the Jewish Museum Hohenems, which has received the Austrian Museum Prize 2022!
The €20,000 prize is awarded annually by the Museum Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sports (BMKÖS) for outstanding achievements in the field of museum work. The official presentation will take place in Klagenfurt on October 13th as part of the Austrian Museum Day.
Hohenems is a small town in the far west of Austria near the Swiss border. Jews settled there more than 400 years ago and formed a lively community. Today, few Jews live in either Hohenems or the surrounding Austrian region of Voralberg, but the Jewish museum, former synagogue, and Jewish cemetery bear testament to its past.
The Jewish Museum in Hohenems was opened in 1991 in the Heimann-Rosenthal villa in the center of the town’s former Jewish quarter. Its permanent exhibition centers on the history of the local Jewish community up to (and after) its destruction during the Nazi era, and it programs special temporary exhibitions as well as an extensive program of events. The museum also maintains a close relationship with the descendants of Jewish families from Hohenems around the world.
Its director since 2004 has been Hanno Loewy — he wrote a Have Your Say essay for JHE in 2016.
“The Jewish Museum Hohenems is a small historical museum in a small community in the far west of Austria,” the prize announcement said.
However, the significance of the museum extends far beyond the town or region. The museum tells the story of a diaspora community, but does not remain in the past, but rather takes up current topics and questions in its exhibitions that one should also ask in far-off places. […]
The Museum Hohenems is a courageous museum that doesn’t mince words, likes to raise provocative questions, and is open to discourse with all interested parties. The importance of the Jewish Museum Hohenems for the Austrian museum landscape is undisputed.
Ministry State Secretary Andrea Mayer added:
The Jewish Museum Hohenems is much more than a museum. It is a meeting place and home for many people – regardless of their religious background. For me, too, the Jewish Museum Hohenems is one of the fixed points of a stay in Vorarlberg. It is an inspiring place that rightly convinced the museum advisory board. I am therefore happy to agree and congratulate Director Hanno Loewy and his team on this important award.
Hohenems Jewish Museum web site