IMMA – International Mountain Museums Alliance is an association officially born in Rome at the FAO (Mountain Partnership Secretariat), at the headquarters of the United Nations, on 11 December 2015. The foundation was preceded by a constitutive meeting, which took place the day before in Turin, in the Sala degli Stemmi of the Museomontagna, where the Alliance is now based in its Documentation Area.

The Association – which brings together museums and documentation centers, different in size and type of work, but which also deal with collections and archives relating to the mountains– is a network for the dissemination and enhancement of the culture of the mountains in its many forms, with joint and shared activities.

The founding members are the National Mountain Museum in Turin (Italy), the Musée Alpin in Chamonix (France); the Muzeum Tatrzańskie of Zakopane (Poland); the Servei General d’Informació de Muntanya in Sabadell (Spain) and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff (Canada).

Through professional confrontation and the realization of common projects, the Association works for the conservation, study and promotion of mountain culture, today more than ever a terrain of challenge and representation of the complexity of our present life, in the context of climate change, political and social.

Composed of institutions and organizations that have a permanent collection open to public use, with scientific management and adequate quality standards, the IMMA meets every year to share projects and activities, ideas and reflections on issues of current importance for the mountains, its culture and the institutions that represent it, be they museums, documentation centers or similar institutions.

With a view to enlargement, cooperation and comparison, in addition to the members, some similar entities operate as guests in the Association, including the EMMOA, The Basque Mountain Museum (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Euskadi, Spain). On the occasion of the annual assemblies, representatives of other institutions, are also invited to participate, including the Mountain Partnership Secretariat of the FAO (Rome) – which became an honorary member in 2023 -, as well as professionals and experts in the sector, who, in various capacities, intervene on the topics that are annually chosen as discussion topic of the meeting.

Every year, on 11 December, the members of the Association participate in the World Mountain Day with coordinated projects.

President: Carles Capellas (Servei General d’Informació de Muntanya in Sabadell)
Coordinator: Daniela Berta (National Mountain Museum in Turin)

CONTACTS
posta@museomontagna.org