Simose Art Museum, which opened in Hiroshima Prefecture’s Otake city in March 2023, has been named as the world’s most beautiful museum at the Prix Versailles, the French world architecture and design awards that shine a light on the finest contemporary projects globally. The awards, which were established in 2015, are announced annually at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The museum category was added for the first time this year. Simose Art Museum beat off competition from Smritivan Earthquake Museum in Bhuj, Manah’s Oman Across Ages Museum, Warsaw’s Polish History Museum, Chengdu’s A4 Art Museum, Giza’s Grand Egyptian Museum and Paleis Het Loo in Apeldoorn.
About Simose Art Museum
Designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize, Simose Art Museum is located on a 4.6-hectare site facing the Seto Inland Sea. It preserves and displays items collected by Marui Sangyo President Yumiko Shimose. Eight movable galleries sheathed in colored glass are arrayed on a water basin that can be rearranged to form different layouts depending on the exhibition. “It’s a great honor to win this year’s Prix Versailles award,” said Simose Art Museum’s PR official Hina Kawaguchi. “Our museum is a facility everyone can enjoy. We’d love for people to visit us.”
Other Prix Versailles Winners
There are seven other categories at the Prix Versailles architecture and design awards, including the world’s most beautiful airport. This year, that honor went to Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi. Nanyang Technological University, Gaia in Singapore won the campus prize, while St. Wolfgang’s Schafbergbahn Station received the passenger station accolade. CityPark, the new soccer stadium in downtown St. Louis, and Dior in Geneva, won in the sports and emporium categories. The Hanok Heritage House in Yeongwol was named the world’s most beautiful hotel. As for the most beautiful restaurant, that went to Ilis in New York.
