by Europeana receiving the Erasmus Award for Networking Europe.
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Laudation:
Laudator Joan Hemels, University of Amsterdam
The website Europeana.eu is a surprising innovative interactive educational virtual exhibition in the field of the European cultural inheritance in the broadest sense of this container term.
The content of Europeana consists of a digitalized collection European books, work of art and modern audiovisual media, including paintings and other objects of art, manuscripts, letters, music, photos, television images and film- and audiofragments - everything in a digital format.
The leading idea of Europeana is the strong conviction that European countries can be connected by realizing in several languages more access to the European cultural heritage –not only for scientists, but also for every general citizen.
If we see Europeana as a treasure store house, the user can be seen as a treasure digger who is discovering a virtual world of culture that seems to be without borders.
National libraries and musea are closely working together in this unique project that started as the European Digital Library Network and has been enabled by the European Commission. The offices are in The Hague, the most international governmental city of the Netherlands.
The building of the huge data bank with a capacity of up to ten millions images still is a work in progress. Nevertheless, nearly one year after the official launching of Europeana, the most critical users are already impressed by the achievement of this virtual online library and museum.
An open mind for the national cultural sources in Europe can be crucial for the development of a common European conciousness
and for the dissemination of different social and cultural values of the inhabitants of the participating countries.
The long way to an integrated cultural space of Europe has been shortened by realizing Europeana. In bridging European cultures, the
European Society of Education and Communication sees the great merit and the outstanding achievement of Europeana.
