By Kasia Skrzypczak, KONTAKT, Poland
Europeana is the result of the inspiring idea, backed by a letter from six heads of state to the President of the European Commission, that Europe should take ownership and responsibility of its past and make it an integral part of its future.
“To my mind, the cultural side of our continent is just as important as our economic outreach. Europe can and must become a real, vibrant ecosystem in the 21st century, a strong community based on the three challenges, the environmental, digital and social challenges” Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market
The general vision for Europeana imagines a cultural heritage sector powered by digital and a Europe powered by culture, giving it a resilient, growing economy, increased employment, improved well-being and a sense of European identity.
Europeana empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation. The main aim is to develop expertise, tools and policies to embrace digital change and encourage partnerships that foster innovation. And to make it easier for people to use cultural heritage for education, research, creation and recreation. In this way Europeana contributes to an open, knowledgeable and creative society.
Today, Europeana empowers cultural heritage institutions to share their collections with the world. And so far, over 58 million cultural heritage items from around 4,000 institutions across Europe are available via Europeana online. France is by far the largest contributor to the archives, providing more than half of the content. Britain boasts 10 percent of the material, Spain offers 1.4 percent, and Germany supplied 1.4 perc
The site (www.europeana.eu) brings together the cultural and historical resources of the 27 EU states from more than 1,000 different institutions. The material is free to users because it includes only works in the public domain.
The heritage shared through Europeana, from all domains, from all countries and in all languages, will be used and enjoyed by citizens, creatives, researchers, educators and students across the world.
You can download the Euopeana strategy for 2020-2025 here:
