Cultural heritage as a vehicle of cultural identity
Cultural heritage is widely recognised across Europe
as a vehicle of cultural identity. How much people know about cultural
heritage depends both on what is done to promote it and also on the capacity
of Europeans to become familiar with and appreciate their own culture
and those of the other EU Member States.
Preserving and enhancing common heritage
Access to common heritage
World heritage
Preserving and enhancing common heritage
Preserving and enhancing Europe's cultural heritage is one of the key
objectives of the cultural cooperation programme "Culture
2000", approximately 34% of whose budget is earmarked for this
purpose.
The programme supports projects for conserving European heritage of exceptional
importance - so-called "European heritage laboratories" - some
of which have, for instance, played a part in the restoration of the frescoes
in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Italy.
The Culture
2000 programme also provides support for cooperation projects in the
heritage field - such as the Art
Nouveau Network - which can cover projects involving, among other
things, training, the exchange of experience and the development of cultural
multimedia products. It also supports the "Europa
Nostra" awards, which are granted to heritage restoration projects.
In its Resolution
of 26 June 2000, the Council once again stressed the importance of
preserving and enhancing Europe's cinematic heritage. The MEDIA
programme (2001-2005), which supports the European audiovisual industry,
contributes to the development of Europe's cinematic heritage by co-financing
projects which promote the development of digital archives and the distribution
of European audiovisual works in cinemas, on videos/DVDs or on digital
networks.
The preservation of heritage is also one of the objectives of the Information
Society Technologies programme (IST) within the framework of its action
Preservation
and development of the cultural heritage (6th framework programme
for research and technological development).
Access to common heritage
The European Union uses its education
and training programmes and its joint information campaigns with the
Council of Europe to foster public access to cultural heritage.
• Learning about common heritage
The SOCRATES programme supports educational projects in the field of cultural
heritage which involve schools and museums, for example; the Leonardo
da Vinci programme finances, among other things, training in traditional
crafts and in the restoration and development of cultural heritage.
Moreover, specific action has been taken to promote regional
and minority languages, which form part of Europe's cultural and linguistic
heritage.
• Raising awareness of common heritage
The European Union is involved in efforts to raise awareness of cultural
heritage, such as the "Europe,
a common heritage" campaign, which was launched in 1999 by the
Council of Europe. As part of this campaign, the European Commission and
the Council of Europe have signed five conventions and launched several
joint projects - within the framework of the Culture 2000 programme- on
the subject of photographic heritage, Europe's ancient universities, the
craft industry and Europe's musical traditions.
The Council of Europe and the European Union are also working together
to organise European
Heritage Days, which have been held since 1991. The Culture 2000 programme
also finances projects which seek to raise awareness of common heritage.
World heritage
The need to protect and enhance cultural heritage extends beyond Europe's
borders. The Union is seeking to meet this need by working with international
organisations and non-member countries with which it has signed cooperation
or association agreements.
In accordance with the convention signed in 1999 by the European Commission
and the Council of Europe,
a joint study has been carried out on the destruction of cultural heritage
in Kosovo. The European Union is working with UNESCO
to preserve cultural and world heritage, for instance within the HeritageNet
project.
The protection of world heritage is also addressed in the agreements
concluded with the Union's partner countries:
EUROMED
Heritage is a regional programme which fosters the development of
cultural heritage in the European Mediterranean area; it forms part of
the cooperation programme with the Mediterranean countries (MEDA).
EUMEDIS is
an initiative designed to promote the development in Mediterranean countries
of digital services, such as multimedia services which provide information
about cultural assets and tourist sites.
The ASIA-URB programme supports urban development projects launched
jointly by Asian and European cities.
Efforts to protect and enhance cultural heritage are also being undertaken
as part of the cooperation activities between the EU and the African,
Caribbean and Pacific countries under the terms of the
Cotonou Agreement.
Europe in action
National Cultural sites 
