Malbork Castle Museum wins awards at the Sybilla 2025 Competition

Museum ‘Oscars’ for Malbork Castle Museum! 

We are immensely proud to announce the special distinction awarded during the 46th edition of the Sybilla 2025 Museum Event of the Year Competition. Our museum was awarded the Grand Prix, the highest honour in this prestigious competition, also known as the ‘museum Oscars’ for good reason.

The gala ceremony took place on 25 May at the Artus Court, where representatives of Poland’s leading museum institutions gathered. The competition is organised by the National Institute of Museums under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and has for years set the standard in the realm of museum activities.

Grand Prix for the exhibition ‘Homage 500. History – Culture – Remembrance’

The main prize and victory in the ‘Temporary Exhibitions’ category went to the exhibition ‘Homage 500. History – Culture – Remembrance’. The exhibition was organised to mark the 500th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Kraków and the Prussian Homage paid by Albrecht Hohenzollern to King Sigismund I the Old.

The exhibition was the centrepiece of the anniversary celebrations and was highly praised by the jury for its substantive quality, the scale of international partnership and its modern approach to historical narratives.

The exhibition was divided into three sections:

• HISTORY, historical one, telling the story of the troubled relations between the Teutonic Order and Poland and of the prominent figures who brought about the peaceful dissolution and transformation of the monastic state into a secular one, the first Lutheran state in the world, as well as highlighting the implications of this event for science, literature, culture and politics in Central Europe up to the end of the 18th century;
• CULTURE, artistic one, providing an overview of the art, culture and science of the Renaissance court of Königsberg and its links with other European courts, something that will be done for the first time in a museum setting;
• REMEMBRANCE, cultures of memory from the late 18th century to the present day, in the visions of such historians and Polish artists as Marcello Bacciarelli, Jan Matejko, Tadeusz Kantor and Edward Dwurnik.

Another award for Malbork – heritage conservation

The Malbork Castle Museum was also recognised in the ‘Conservation and Protection of Cultural Heritage’ category. The jury praised the comprehensive work carried out in the dignitaries’ chambers and the western cloister at the High Castle.

The Chambers of Teutonic dignitaries are among the most complex and multi-layered spaces at Malbork Castle. They comprise a complex of nine rooms situated on the first floor of the west wing of the High Castle – the former conventual monastery. Although their function dates back to the Middle Ages, their current appearance is the result of a series of transformations: from early modern period damage, through 19th-century reconstruction, to contemporary conservation work.

Particularly valuable are the preserved and restored polychromes from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, depicting biblical scenes and forming a unique iconographic programme across the entire castle complex.

The Sybilla Awards are a testament to the highest quality of work carried out by museum professionals, conservators and researchers. The Grand Prix and other honours received are not only something the Castle Museum in Malbork can be proud of, but also an obligation to further develop its cultural offer and protect heritage of global significance.