The Magnezit Museum has been hailed as the best museum in Russia at the 6th National Award for Corporate Museums, winning the Grand Prix in the contest.

The final stage of the Awards took place in October 1-3 in Nizhny Novgorod at the Cultural Center of the Gorky Automobile Plant, with 250 delegates from across Russia and the near abroad participating.

The competitive part of the Awards event got together 90 corporate museums of Russia’s leading companies as well as museums of industrial enterprises of Belarus and Azerbaijan. The business program involved defense of projects presented in the contest in various nominations, such as: New Display; Exhibition of the Year; Museum for Everyone; Corporate Social Responsibility; Development Of Territories; the Best Education Projects of a Corporate Museum; Discovery of the Year; the Best Industrial Route of a Museum; and the Best Museum Event. 

The Magnezit Museum presented two projects at the contest: one – the display “The Art of the Intellect. People × Ideas × Achievements”, which can be seen in Chelyabinsk today, and one on an online platform; the project “Genius of Location”, which is presented on a field platform of the museum in the Avangard complex and involved in career guidance and regular tour programs. Anastasia Chizhikova, a specialist of the Magnezit Museum, gave presentations on those projects.

“The National Award “Corporate Museum”, in addition to being a transmitter of the best expertise in our industry, has been operating as a platform for exchanging opinions and discussing relevant topics for several years. The center of attention this year was the topic “Corporate Museum: From a Public Initiative to Status Formalization”, Anastasia Chizhikova says. “Experts mentioned the history of creating corporate museums in Russia, which is connected with preservation and promotion of traditional values such as family, constructive work, historical memory, and intergenerational continuity. The decree “The Basics of Government Policy of the Russian Federation Regarding Historical Education”, signed by the President of Russia in May earlier this year talks about the need for government support and the formalization of “the status of industry museums as an important component of the scientific and practical base of historical education”. This is important because, as was pointed out, corporate museums today are becoming successfully developing cultural and social centers on a national scale as well as at the level of their respective companies and areas of their presence".

Other memorable events of the Awards were the exhibition “Social City: Revival of Traditions” and the exhibition of souvenir products of corporate museums, where our museum presented a variety of souvenirs, printed products and games featuring Magnik and produced in its brand style. In addition, many visitors took an interest in samples of magnesite and periclase glowing in the floodlight. Some of those became gifts to other museums.

By the way, the video of the transmission of the Award event is available in the social media group.

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The Magnezit Museum took part in all six corporate museum competitions. In five previous contests, the museum won a number of awards, such as Exhibition of the Year (2018), Museum of the Future (2019), Development of Territories (2022), 2nd degree diplomas in the nominations Best Corporate Museum (2021) and Best Industrial Route (2023), and a special prize – the Best Corporate Museum golden trophy (2023). 

The Corporate Museum project consolidated industrial collections in order to update the industrial heritage and promote historical and cultural values of Russian companies. There is no other competition platform for corporate museums similar to the National Award “Corporate Museum” either Russia or elsewhere in the world.

The revival of the tradition of creating and boosting activities of corporate museums is an important component of the program for developing intercultural relations of industrial companies, the state and society. Six seasons of the contest have seen 675 projects presented by 345 participants. The First All-Russian Contest “Corporate Museum” was held in the city of Perm, in 2018.

The National Award “Corporate Museum” is supported by the ICOM of Russia (the Russian Committee of the International Council of Museums), the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and, this year, by the Gorky Automobile Plant.

Source: Magnezitovets. The photo was taken from the website of the Award.