Digital cultural heritage

New technologies bring cultural heritage sites back to life. Virtual museums offer visitors the possibility to see art works in context and experience objects or sites inaccessible to the public.

The European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology has conducted extensive policy coordination and funding actions to supplement Member States’ cultural policy. These actions cover the areas of digitisation, online access to cultural material and digital preservation.

The role of the European Commission

The European Commission fuels the policy debate and brings stakeholders together to improve the framework conditions for digitisation and digital preservation. It does so through its Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (.pdf).

The European Commission's Expert Group on Digital Cultural Heritage and Europeana (DCHE) monitors progress towards the implementation of the Commission's Recommendation. The DCHE works with cultural institutions to enrich Europeana. It also facilitates the exchange of information and good practices. 

Current funding instruments

Actions under Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges 6 programmes for 2014-2020 have supported the following topics with an EU funding of around €70 million:

• curation of digital assests and advanced digitisation (2018)
• European cultural heritage, access and analysis for a richer interpretation of the past (2017)
• cost-effective technologies for advanced 3D modelling to enhance the understanding of cultural heritage and Innovation Ecosystems of Digital Cultural Assets, Virtual Museums (2014-2016)