information from Nordic National Museum

National Nordic Museum's Executive Director/CEO Eric Nelson was awarded the Hazelius Medal in Gold on October 24 during a virtual ceremony broadcast from Sweden. The Medal is awarded by the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm each year to individuals who have made significant contributions to Swedish cultural heritage. The Hazelius Medal in Gold is only awarded in extremely rare cases for distinctive efforts.

In announcing this year’s Medal recipient, the Nordiska Musset explained “it has awarded the Hazelius Medal in Gold to Eric Nelson for his tireless work to build bridges of understanding and cooperation between the United States and Sweden, and other Nordic nations. Even though the Museum is in Seattle, it manages to serve as a national and international hub for Nordic values, culture and ideas.”

“It is an incredible honor to receive this award on the behalf of the National Nordic Museum in Seattle,” said CEO/Executive Director Eric Nelson. “It is a testament to the international reach and significance of the Museum and its programs.”

The new Nordic Museum opened on May 5, 2018 in the Ballard neighborhood on Seattle’s working waterfront. The Museum earned the designation National Nordic Museum in 2019 by an Act of Congress. The National Nordic Museum has been widely recognized—regionally, nationally and internationally. The Hazelius medal is the third major award  to be presented to the Museum in 2020; earlier this year of the American Alliance of Museums’ presented its Environmental Sustainability Award and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums awarded the National Nordic Museum with the prestigious Buildy Award.

In 2018, President Sauli Niinstö granted Nelson Knight of the White Rose of Finland and in 2019, the Vasa Order of America named Nelson Swedish-American of the Year.

More About the Hazelius Medal
The Hazelius Medal was first minted in 1893. It is named for Artur Hazelius, the founder of Stockholm’s Nordiska Museet and Skansen, the world’s oldest open-air museum. The medal exists in three denominations: gold, silver and bronze. The Hazelius medal in gold is Sweden’s highest recognition for the promotion of cultural heritage and is rarely presented.

More about the Nordiska museet
The Nordiska Museet is Sweden's largest cultural history museum, with the task of collecting, caring for and displaying objects and images. In 1872, Artur Hazelius had the idea to preserve what could be saved from the old peasant culture that was disappearing. A year later he opened the museum and the collections grew. The collections today include more than 1.5 million objects.

More About the National Nordic Museum
The National Nordic Museum is the only museum in the  United States that showcases the impact and influence of Nordic values and innovation in  contemporary society and tells the story of 12,000 years of Nordic history and culture,  across all five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) as well as three semi-autonomous regions (Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Åland) and Sápmi. The Museum shares Nordic culture with people of all ages and backgrounds by exhibiting art and objects, preserving collections, providing educational and cultural experiences, and serving as a community gathering place. It is guided by a bold vision: Through the history we illuminate, the stories we tell, the connections we make, and the values we promote, we inspire our visitors to create a more vibrant, more just, more sustainable world.