We encourage you to read the interview with PhD Paulina Florjanowicz, Director of the National Institute of Museums, conducted as part of EMYA2025. We talk about the role of Polish museums in Europe, the significance of the EMYA Award and the challenges facing contemporary museums.

 Patrycja K. Roman: The annual conference and the awards ceremony of the European Museum of the Year is one of the most important events in the European museum sector. What is the significance of the fact that the host of this year’s edition is the Polish museum —  the Sybir Memorial Museum?

Paulina Florjanowicz: The fact that the finals are organized in Poland — and that the host of this event is the Sybir Memorial Museum — is of great importance at various levels. Most of all, it is a chance for the museum itself, to present to a diverse international public connected with the museology. It is a unique opportunity to show the museum’s mission and narrative in a wide European context.

However, this event is significant for the whole Polish museum sector. Once again, in a single decade that Poland is the host of the EMYA finals which is the confirmation of being active not only in the European context, but also we strengthen our position as a leader of modern museology.

It is also important at our national level. The Sybir Memorial Museum deals with a theme which has an opportunity to be presented with its greatest importance internationally. It is no secret — this topic is mostly unknown or often unclear for people from Western Europe. This is the reason why there is a need to talk about it even more.

 To sum up, this event is of significant importance at three levels: museum, sector and national. Similarly, it was when in 2018 the host of the EMYA finals was POLIN Museum. Moreover, this museum won the main award in 2016. Then, presenting the thousand-year presence of the Jewish community in Poland turned out to be revealing and moving for the international participants.

P. R.: Referring to the opportunity that arises from the role of being the EMYA finals host — you mentioned that it is also a chance for the theme undertaken by the Sybir Memorial Museum to be presented wider and reach foreign countries.

 P. F.: In my opinion this is one of the key roles of the EMYA. It is an occasion not only to introduce a modern, impressive museum, as it has been undoubtedly confirmed already — you have been verified on the highest possible level. That deserves congratulations.

However, another equally important opportunity arises there: taking advantage of the situation in order to present your mission by reaching an international public. After all, it is a much deeper context here — it is about bringing closer the history of deportations deep into Russia and Sybir as well as the whole theme of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. My experience shows that nowadays — even in Poland — it is better to talk about Hitler-Stalin pact. People don’t know much about the surnames of Ribbentrop and Molotov, but actually the sense of this pact and its consequences are crucial for understanding the fate of Central and Eastern Europe.

 It is also an occasion to present the history of nations of our region — the ones which have been in the shadow of the Russian Empire for ages. And it still requires its discovery and reintroduction, especially abroad.

P. R.: Which values and ideas do the EMYA promote? Are they consistent with the directions of modern museology development in Poland?

P. F.: What distinguishes the EMYA is modernity and innovation, but not in the context of technology as it might seem. It is not about having a lot of multimedia or new technologies in the museum. It is rather about the message which a museum would like to convey. It should be properly presented and completed — so the institution is supported with modern communication and narrative tools which enable suiting the needs of different, often various groups of visitors.

And this is the most fascinating thing about this award. The museums submitting to this contest are analyzed by the EMYA judges very carefully — at many levels, especially in terms of building their relations with their visitors, how they influence them or how they cooperate together. I think that it is very important to Polish museology as it shows the difference between the approach that our national act regarding museums includes and the approach resulting from the international definition of museum according to the ICOM.

Our definition contains mainly the context of what is happening inside an institution — about collection, maintenance or research of collections. However, some questions are missing there: why and for whom is it doing? These questions are crucial from the perspective of the EMYA. What is more, the best museums in Europe are able to answer these questions already.

P. R.: What is the role of the National Institute for Museums in the context of such events as the EMYA?

P. F.: It is really important for us and I’m glad that this question appears as my attitude to this topic is personal. It is 10 years since the role of the National Institute for Museums — functioning with longer name as the National Institute for Museums and Collections Protection before — is the EMYA’s national correspondent. It works as a contact point of this award in Poland.

I have a special sentiment as I have been working in this institution and I established this point exactly 10 years ago. I was the first person working there as a national correspondent of the EMYA in Poland. A dynamic development of museology has been already observed at that time in our country — new institutions as well as new ideas or innovative approaches have been appearing. And we cared about showing it in the international area.

I remember my first EMYA conference in Estonia in 2014 — any Polish museums were there in the contest yet. I was amazed by what I saw there, but I was unquestionably convinced at the same time that we have got excellent museums in Poland. And we have succeeded — after only a year from the opening of our contact point in 2016, the POLIN Museum was awarded with the main EMYA Award, and the European Solidarity Centre was awarded with the Council of Europe Museum Prize. It was an unprecedented event — it happened only twice that both of these prizes were awarded within the same country in the decades-old history of the EMYA — the first such case was in Turkey, another one in Poland.

We can say that we came into the EMYA as a hurricane then — and we stayed. Over the last 10 years, 31 museums from Poland have been nominated in the competition.We were awarded with the main EMYA Award once and with the Council of Europe Museum Prize — twice, six museums gained special commendations. It is a really strong position.

There are a few nominated institutions each year — five museums last year and again five ones this year. It is the biggest number out of all participating countries. Our position in the EMYA is very strong and stable today. I am very pleased that we will have the opportunity to present again to a wide European public in the tenth anniversary.

Also I hope that representatives of these Polish museums which haven’t participated yet in the EMYA will come to Białystok. It is a unique experience — a feast of the European museology, that is worth seeing with your own eyes and experience in person.

P. R.: In reference to this year’s edition and the fact that as many as five Polish museums are nominated to the EMYA Award this year — how do you interpret this high number of representatives of our country?

P. F.: It results from the fact that we have got exceptionally creative museologists in Poland.

Moreover, by “museologists” I mean not only curators or historians, but all employees and coworkers of the museum — all of these wonderful institutions would not be established without commitment and creativity of all of these people.

What is also important, the attractiveness of the message which we can see in the Polish museums today does not come at the expense of the scientific quality. On the contrary, new museums are established on the basis of solid research, reach collections and authentic witnesses testimonies or intense scientific work in the case of historic museums. In my opinion, it is the key to the success of the Polish museology.

It is necessary to remember that there are particular investments behind this success. Huge amounts of public funds — mostly from the national budget —  have been invested in the museums development within the last years. And today, we can see the results of this long-term work. That is why so many candidates from Poland take part in the EMYA — it is a long-range outcome of a consequent support and a work of the whole community.

P. R.: The leading theme of this year’s EMYA edition is “Remembrance and solidarity for collective action”. Is there in the area of a social dialogue and building community a space for museums? Do museums such as the Sybir Memorial Museum play a major role?

P. F.: I would say that museums play not only a major but crucial role. Of course I say it as “pro domo sua”, because this environment is especially important to me, but I am also based on the particular results of the programs and social research.

I have an opportunity to be a manager of the Department of Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture and coordinator of a long-term “Independent” (“Niepodległa”) program. It was connected with commemoration of the regaining of independence by Poland. And even though its aim was not strictly preparation of commemoration events, but primarily it was all about something deeper — the strengthening of the national community awareness.

What we observed is the fact that due to our difficult and complicated history within the last 200 years, Polish society has become atomized. We trust our family and friends, but national institutions or unknown people not so much. The “Independent” (“Niepodległa”) program was supposed to be a response to that challenge — kind of a tool for strengthening social bonds by common valuable experiences.

The range of the program was wide and open to many environments: culture institutions, social organizations and others. Totally over 20 thousand of events were organized. However, one thing is clear — museums played an extraordinary role in this whole process.

Museums organized dozens of outstanding exhibitions bringing crowds of people and increasing the general level of the temporary exhibitions in Poland as well. Moreover, the program supported the museums cooperation. Exchanging exhibits between institutions is a standard process nowadays, but it seemed difficult a few years ago.

Museums also responded excellently to a huge society’s need for valuable spending time together — with family or friends. The offer is really universal nowadays — addressed to each age or social group.

An excellent symbol of this change is the date of November, 11. Most museums were closed on that day about 10 years ago. Today, crowds of people visit museums — it is one of these days when going to the museum is a standard way of celebrating the independence. Shopping galleries are closed on that day, parks are not always good option for autumn walks — but museums are open to people offering them community experience.

Mostly, exhibitions are enriched with a very extended educational program and publications of a great quality which stay for a longer time. When we started the program, our aim was to make possible that every child who take part in the celebration, could say in 50 years: “I remember how Poland celebrated the 100th anniversary of regaining independence”. And, if it will happen, it is an achievement of museums.

Of course not only museums, but also actions such as the “Independent Poland sing the National Anthem” (“Niepodległa do hymnu”) project or national singing of four verses of the national anthem which is something obvious nowadays. In all of these actions museums play crucial role and made it perfectly.

What is more, there was a program prepared which was supposed to be a continuation of all of these actions and projects addressed to museums. However, it wasn’t realized. Fingers crossed for coming back to it some day, because it is worthy to do it.

P. R.: Last but not least — what do you wish for Polish museums in the context of the EMYA2025?

P. F.: First of all, I wish Polish museums being open to both — new ideas and potential cooperation, which may appear during the EMYA organized in Poland. Of course, I hope for five our museums taking part in the contest — it is something natural to me.

We know that the jury’s decisions have been already made, but haven’t been announced yet. Presentations take place in the moment, when the decision is not known to the public yet, but it has been already agreed. That is why next to the award itself is the fact that the final gala — during which there will be a verdict announced — will meet with enthusiasm and understanding of the public. It means that participants and observers could feel that the jury’s choice corresponds to all of what they saw and experienced just within these several short days. That gives the whole event an enormous power.

As a person who has taken part in a number of the EMYA’s finals, I can say one thing: this is not only an awards ceremony. It is a multi-day celebration of the museums — a space of inspiration, exchanging experience, exploring new methods of working with the public or starting new relations and partnerships, which can bring benefits for years. And this is the kind of openness I wish all Polish museums participating in this year’s edition.

And you, as the host of this unique event, I wish that the whole event will be held smoothly — although I am convinced that it will be like that. I also wish you to take advantages of this wonderful occasion. Organizing the EMYA in Poland opens up new possibilities which are a unique opportunity for presenting your mission widely all over Europe.

It is very important to make topics, which seem to be characteristic only to Eastern Europe, as a common concern of the whole continent. In today’s turbulent times, the voice of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe should be heard especially strongly. Our experience is unique, and visitors from the West still know very little about us. You created a space where it can be changed — and this deserves great recognition. You should be praised for this. I hope everything works out just great.