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International Mountain Museums Alliance welcomes the Mountain Partnership Secretariat as honorary member and joins the Mountain Partnership

30.05.2023

The International Mountain Museums Alliance (IMMA) welcomed the Mountain Partnership Secretariat as an honorary member during its 2023 annual assembly and meeting held on 25-26 May at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)'s headquarters in Rome. The IMMA also decided to become a member of the Mountain Partnership, joining the ranks of several of the museums participating in the IMMA that are already Mountain Partnership members.

The IMMA was formed in 2015 under the auspices of the Mountain Partnership. It aims to provide a platform for collaboration and exchange between mountain museums internationally. Members of the IMMA meet once per year for the Alliance's general assembly to share their experiences of promoting and preserving mountain culture and to define joint projects.

Participants in the general assembly included representatives of the Musée Alpin (Chamonix, France), Museo Nazionale della Montagna (Turin, Italy), Muzeum Tatrzańskie (Zakopane, Poland), Servei General d'Informació de Muntanya (Sabadell, Spain) and Museo del Montañismo Vasco (Spain), all of which are founding members of IMMA.

"The IMMA is an important platform for mountain museums from diverse realities to learn from one another about what is being done by others in our field to protect mountain culture. Having the possibility to meet at least once per year is a good opportunity to share projects," said Daniela Berta, Coordinator of IMMA.

Projects that the IMMA have implemented include hosting common exhibitions as well as contributing to the website mountainmuseums.org, which is a database for highlights of mountain collected shared by the Museo Nazionale della Montagna and the Musée Alpin and open to future participation by other institutions.

Daniela Berta is also the Mountain Partnership focal point of the Museo Nazionale della Montagna. She said, "Being a Mountain Partnership member is relevant because it gives us a more international perspective. It helps us to promote the richness and diversity of mountain culture and to see ways that we can contribute to promoting the sustainability of mountain life in contemporary society."

Since 2019, the IMMA has also organized a meeting in parallel to the assembly to host and welcome new mountain museums to the association.

Five guest institutions participated in the meeting segment, including representatives of the Swiss Alpine Museum (Bern, Switzerland), Museo Etnografico Trentino San Michele (Trento, Italy), International Mountain Museum (Pokhara, Nepal), Brasov County History Museum / Olimpia – Museum of Sports and Mountain Tourism (Brasov, Romania) and Musée Savoisien (Chambéry, France). All of these museums were welcomed to the IMMA as new ordinary members.

Two new honorary members also joined the IMMA, including the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Anna Wende-Surmiak, former director of the Muzeum Tatrzańskie as well as former president of the IMMA.

The next IMMA general assembly and meeting will take place in May 2024 in Turin, Italy, hosted by the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in celebration of its 150th anniversary, together with the International Alliance for Mountain Film.