BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 18. The Surakhani project, a tanker-turned-museum with the “Caspian Heritage” initiative, has been included in the preliminary list of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Award for Sustainable Museum Practices, the ICOM announced, Trend reports via ASCO.
The 2024 ICOM competition received submissions from 124 countries. The jury conducted an initial selection, forming a longlist of 130 projects from 60 countries. These projects will next be evaluated to determine a shortlist and, ultimately, three finalists. Winners will be announced in December 2025 at the ICOM General Conference in Dubai.
The projects are assessed by an international jury based on the five key areas of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership.
The ICOM Award is the first global recognition of innovative initiatives and exemplary sustainable practices in museums, addressing all ICOM members worldwide.
The Surakhany tanker museum first applied to the ICOM Award in 2023 with its “Caspian Heritage” exhibition, commemorating the Year of Heydar Aliyev and the 165th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Caspian Shipping Company. The project also included the “Art Plast” eco-art initiative, created during the “Green World Solidarity Year” and ahead of COP29, under the motto “Less Plastic, More Life: Together for a Clean Sea!”
The “Caspian Heritage” exhibition features ancient artifacts recovered from the Caspian seabed, equipment and tools of the underwater archaeology team, and showcases submerged cities, medieval shipwrecks, the region’s rich culture, and its extensive trade networks.
The Art Plast project includes installations such as a five-meter-long fish and over two-meter-tall sculptures of a seagull, seal, and seahorse. A four-meter-long world map made from plastic bottles and vases crafted from decommissioned boats is displayed in front of Surakhani. These eco-art objects highlight plastic pollution and the need to protect marine life and demonstrate how waste can be transformed into useful items and even works of art.
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