Glasgow Riverside Museum wins top European award

One-year-old Jemba Muqutali Adam stands in front of the Riverside Museum. Picture: Robert Perry/TSPL

• Glasgow’s Riverside Museum wins top European architectural award

• Riverside is first Scottish recipient of European Museum of the Year Award

The European Museum of the Year (EMYA) Award was given to the city’s River Clyde museum, built in 2011 by architect Zaha Hadid.

Museums that have been built or extensively refurbished within the last three years are eligible for the award.

EMYA was founded in 1977 and overseen by the Council of Europe. Previous UK winners include the National Railway Museum in York and the Beamish: North of England Museum.

The judges said: “The Riverside Museum demonstrates brilliantly how a specialist transport collection can renew its relevance through active engagement with wider social and universal issues.

“The EMYA 2013 Judging Panel agreed unanimously that the museum fulfils the EMYA criteria of ‘public quality’ at the highest level.”

Over two million visitors have passed through the museum’s doors since opening. It was built at a cost of £74 million, and contains around 150 displays.

Cllr Archie Graham, chairman of Glasgow Life, said it was an “outstanding achievement”.

“Our fantastic Riverside Museum has been crowned Europe’s best,” he said.

“That is no accident and is down to the hard work, passion and creativity of our staff who do everything they can to bring the stories of our transport and engineering past to existing and new audiences. They have made Glasgow proud.”