El Cau Ferrat Museum was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award

El Cau Ferrat Museum is one of 49 candidates for the European Museum of the Year Award, the prestigious prize awarded by the Council of Europe to distinguish projects and innovative facilities that have demonstrated their ability to "attract the public and meet the expectations of visitors in a unique environment, with imaginative interpretation and presentation, using an approach that promotes education and social responsibility". The European Museum of the Year Award was created in 1977 by the Council of Europe, a body which comprises 47 states in the continent, having the aim of recognizing the excellence of European museums.

El Cau Ferrat is the only Catalan museum included in the nominations of this year. The 49 candidates come from 24 different states. In the Spanish State there is another candidate, the Wine Museum of Pagos del Rey (Zamora). The countries with most nominations are Germany, Belgium and Italy, with four each. The winning candidate will be decided on the occasion of the International Museum Day, 18 May.

The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is the most prestigious European recognition for museums on the continent. It is awarded by the Council of Europe to distinguish high quality initiatives and is aimed at both small and large as well as public and private museums.

The European Museum of the Year 2015 was the Rijkmuseum (Amsterdam), while 2014 was the Masumiyet Müzesi (Museum of Innocence, Istanbul); 2013, the Riverside Museum (Glasgow) and 2012 was the Museum Medina Azahara (Cordoba). The only Catalan museum that once won the award was the CosmoCaixa, 2006. The Guggenheim Bilbao won in 2000. Other winners were the Salzburg Museum (2009), the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (2003), the Olympic Museum (1995) and the Musée de la Camargue at Arles (1979).

The inclusion of El Cau Ferrat among the nominees is recognition of the reform and refurbishment carried out between 2010 and 2014, which adapted the former study of Santiago Rusiñol to the needs of the XXI century, maintaining and recovering its original essence. During the first year after reopening (22 December 2014), El Cau Ferrat and Maricel museums received more than 55,000 visitors. 

Museu del Cau Ferrat