The Europeana Collections Puts 50 Million European History Items Online

Free Digital Archive Makes Over 50 Million Pieces of European Art Available Online

europeana digital archive van gogh self portrait

Vincent van Gogh. Self-Portrait. 1887. Rijksmuseum.

With the goal to transform the world through culture, the Europeana Collections is a massive digital archive with the objective to make Europe's cultural heritage widely available for researchers and history lovers. Over 3,000 European cultural institutions and aggregators participate in the project, and with more than 50 million pieces of data online, you could spend days immersed in the archive.

From large institutions like the Rijksmuseum and the European Library—which is a collection of 48 European national libraries—to smaller niche organizations such as the Irish Manuscript Collection and the Musical Instrument Museums online archive, there is something for everyone. Europeana really is a one-stop shop for all things in European culture, as it not only takes directly from institutions, but also is an aggregator of other digital archives.

More than 3 million of the archives are openly licensed, meaning you can use them for any purpose, and many of the images are available in high resolution, allowing you to get up close and personal with your favorite Monet.

The Europeana Collections has over 50 million pieces of European history in its digital archive from more than 3,000 institutions.

With so much information, it could be easy to get lost, but Europeana does a nice job of presenting the materials in different thematic sections, including its recently opened Europeana Photography collection, which has over 2 million photographs. Music, art, fashion, sport, natural history, and maps and geography are some of the other collections, with virtual exhibitions helping paint a picture of themes like Art Nouveau trends or fashion reinterpretations through history.

Take a look at some highlights from the collections and dive in. Whether you want to hear a playlist of bird songs, selections of music by Bach, or read letters from WWI, chances are you will discover something of interest.