Cultural riches from over 2,000 years of European civilization are going digital. It's part of a new European Union online library project that is set to rival Google and create a one-stop-shop to access history, art, literature, cinema and music from across the continent. Items have been collected from 1,000 museums, national libraries, galleries and archives -- including the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam -- so users can scour for books, paintings, audio files, maps, videos and other artifacts in one website: http://www.europeana.eu Subjects are as varied as the recipe for a French ham and cheese "croque monsieur" to Homer's epics and the life of Mozart. "You can see all aspects of (Mozart's) life in the works and material that comes from our museums, libraries, audio visual collections and archives across Europe," said Jill Cousins, director of the Europeana project. She called up nearly 1,000 items related to Mozart in a sample search on the website, which is available in 23 languages including English, French, German and Spanish.
It's part of a new European Union online library project that is set to rival Google and create a one-stop-shop to access history, art, literature, cinema and music from across the continent.
Items have been collected from 1,000 museums, national libraries, galleries and archives -- including the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam -- so users can scour for books, paintings, audio files, maps, videos and other artifacts in one website: http://www.europeana.eu
Subjects are as varied as the recipe for a French ham and cheese "croque monsieur" to Homer's epics and the life of Mozart.
"You can see all aspects of (Mozart's) life in the works and material that comes from our museums, libraries, audio visual collections and archives across Europe," said Jill Cousins, director of the Europeana project.
She called up nearly 1,000 items related to Mozart in a sample search on the website, which is available in 23 languages including English, French, German and Spanish.
A new European digital archive gives users access to about 2 million digital objects including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and other documents. Whether you are looking for Dante's "Divine Comedy," Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or a Mozart score, starting Thursday, Nov. 20, you'll find them all free of cost on the European digital library network. The Europeana digital library uses the latest technologies and will "enable a Czech student to browse the British Library without going to London, or an Irish art lover to get close to the Mona Lisa without queuing at the Louvre," said Viviane Reding, the European Union commissioner responsible for new technologies. Reding said the digital library would also give greater visibility to all the treasures hidden deep in Europe's libraries, museums and archives. The online collection includes works from 90 partner institutions and all the countries of Europe, according to the Europeana Web site.
Whether you are looking for Dante's "Divine Comedy," Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or a Mozart score, starting Thursday, Nov. 20, you'll find them all free of cost on the European digital library network.
The Europeana digital library uses the latest technologies and will "enable a Czech student to browse the British Library without going to London, or an Irish art lover to get close to the Mona Lisa without queuing at the Louvre," said Viviane Reding, the European Union commissioner responsible for new technologies.
Reding said the digital library would also give greater visibility to all the treasures hidden deep in Europe's libraries, museums and archives. The online collection includes works from 90 partner institutions and all the countries of Europe, according to the Europeana Web site.
Cuil "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
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European Union plans online library to rival Google - Telegraph
EU officials say Europeana offers a better product than Google's Book Search feature. Google has been scanning millions of books stored in dozens of libraries around the world over the past four years to lure more traffic to its popular search engine. "The Google Book Search project is a great project, but it's about books, it's not like Europeana; you see the difference," said Horst Forster, an EU official who helped coordinate the project. "What we have here does not have any commercial aims." Santiago de la Mora from Google's European office welcomed the launch, saying Google hoped to collaborate with Europeana "taking part in what could become the biggest technological leap in disseminating knowledge since Gutenberg invented the printing press."
EU officials say Europeana offers a better product than Google's Book Search feature. Google has been scanning millions of books stored in dozens of libraries around the world over the past four years to lure more traffic to its popular search engine.
"The Google Book Search project is a great project, but it's about books, it's not like Europeana; you see the difference," said Horst Forster, an EU official who helped coordinate the project. "What we have here does not have any commercial aims."
Santiago de la Mora from Google's European office welcomed the launch, saying Google hoped to collaborate with Europeana "taking part in what could become the biggest technological leap in disseminating knowledge since Gutenberg invented the printing press."
