The Council of Europe Museum Prize 2012 goes to the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum Kulturen der Welt (Cultures of the World) in Cologne, Germany.
The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum is a century-old institution that has recently moved to a new building and developed a groundbreaking new exhibition on World Cultures. Looking for a new mode of presenting its rich collections, the museum has rejected the traditional geography-based scheme and opted for an issue-based presentation. As a result, new contents, interpretation and design solutions have been developed that open new possibilities and set a new paradigm for the museums of anthropology and ethnology worldwide.