The Museum of Abandonment (Muzeul Abandonului), an independent museum in Bucharest dedicated to preserving the memory of one of Romania’s deepest social traumas, has been named a winner of the World Summit Awards (WSA) 2025 in the Culture and Heritage category.
The World Summit Awards is a major international competition focused on digital innovation with social impact, held under the auspices of the United Nations. The recognition comes five years after the Museum of Abandonment launched its research work as a digital, participatory “forum museum” mapping the phenomenon of child abandonment and institutionalisation in Romania, while aiming to generate public dialogue, reflection, and social mediation around the topic.
According to the announcement, the project was selected among 40 global winners of the 2025 edition following an international evaluation process that reviewed and compared more than 400 projects from 182 countries. The final selection was made by the WSA Grand Jury, comprising 27 experts from 25 countries, who assessed initiatives based on social impact, local relevance, ethical use of technology, and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The award positions the Museum of Abandonment as an international best practice in cultural heritage and social memory, highlighting how a digital project can serve as a safe space to address sensitive subjects of profound societal relevance. The initiative argues that painful historical experiences can be transformed into tools for education, public dialogue, and cultural impact with global resonance.
“In a socio-political context marked by fragile collective memory, the reappearance of discourses with extremist overtones, and an erosion of social empathy, the Museum of Abandonment remains a space of memory and compassion,” said founder Oana Drăgulinescu. She added that the project is a private initiative with a small team that has gathered thousands of documents over five years, reaching hundreds of thousands of digital visitors and several thousand in-person visitors. She described the award as external validation, at a global level, that reinforces the value and necessity of a difficult path.
As part of the program, the Museum of Abandonment is scheduled to be presented at the WSA Global Congress, which is set to take place in Vienna in May 2025, alongside initiatives from around the world focused on building a more inclusive and responsible digital future.
Romania also secured a second WSA 2025 win through Vote Monitor, developed by Commit Global, which received an award in the Governance and Citizen Engagement category. The double recognition is presented as confirmation of the international relevance of Romania’s civic and cultural innovation ecosystem.
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