In cooperation of eight European universities (Potsdam, Kraków, Bologna, Athens, Bordeaux, Riga, Copenhagen and Luxembourg) with various cultural institutions, especially libraries and museums, the project aims at developping innovative scientific and pedagogical methods on the field of European cultural heritage. The focus lies on literary sources of cultural heritage, i.e. manuscripts and rare books that are explored in collaboration with prestigious libraries such as the Berlin State Library, the Jagiellonian Library, the Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, the Bibliothèque de Bordeaux, the Latvian National Library in Riga and the Greek National Library in Athens. The project is based on a participative approach to European cultural heritage that involves not only researches and experts, but, most importantly, students: They are the primary target group of the project. In three large summer schools and three smaller workshops, more than 128 European students from all involved programme countries will participate. On the summerschools in Kraków 2020, in Bologna 2021 and in Athens 2022, the students explore local sources of European cultural heritage, gain historical and cultural background knowledge and develop practical skills to design and realize exhibition projects. In Kraków 2020 the focus will be on manuscripts that during the Second World War came from the former Prussian State Library in Berlin to the Jagiellonian Library. Supervised by specialists, the students learn the techniques of editing and interpreting these handwritten sources of European cultural heritage and to present them in the collection and exhibition context of a modern research library. On the summerschool in Bologna 2021, literary sources, paintings and photographies are explored and critically examined that tell the pre-history of modern study programmes such as Erasmus+, beginning with the ,grand tour' of erudites in Early Modern Times. These insights are presented in another student exhibition project that involves their own experience of studying abroad. In Athens 2022, the students reflect on how the ancient Greek philosophy and literature was interpreted during the European Enlightenment and how these processes of reception influenced the formation of modern national states such as modern Greece. At the same time, the studens explore and present the young cultural life in modern Athens. Digital representations of all three exhibition projects will be published on the project homepage for a broader European audience. Three smaller workshops aim at further developping the students' scientific and practical skills in working on European cultural heritage. The practical workshop 2020 in Bordeaux helps the students to explore career options on the field of European cultural heritage by gaining insight into the practical heritage work carried out in museums, libraries and cultural institutions - within the project, these institutions offer internships to European students. The master class 2021 in Copenhagen particularly aims at training the capacity of methodological reflexion and historical research on the field of literary sources of European cultural heritage, especially on their materiality, to inspire innovative study and research works that facilitate the transition from BA- to MA- and to further PhD-studies on the field. On the Europe-workshop in Luxembourg 2022, the students discover their multilingualism and interculturality as a creative ressource that can be used for their further study life and professional career. The summerschools and workshops involve more than 64 university teachers that develop excellent research and teaching skills on the field of European cultural heritage, in three long-term teaching assignments and more than 32 short-term training events that involve co-teaching on the field. The teaching and training activites produce sustainable outputs: All courses are integrated into an overarching moodle-course programme on European cultural heritage that is accessible for all involved institutions. A digital stock-market for internships on cultural heritage is developped that interconnects cultural institutions and student apprentices from all Europe. Finally, an international and interdisciplinary study-module on literary sources of European cultural heritage is implemented into the curricula of the humanity faculties at all involved universities. In this way, the project contributes to the development of long-term international cooperation in research and teaching on the field of European cultural heritage. The intellectual outputs of the project, especially digital research projects on literary sources of cultural heritage, are of outstanding value for the international scientific community and will inspire future innovative reserach on the field of European cultural heritage, crossing national and institutional boundaries, especially in the cooperation of universites, museums and libraries.
The overall aim of the project was to promote the European awareness of shared cultural heritage. To this end, local and national initiatives should be interconnected. At the same time, the cooperation between the participating universities and libraries, archives and museums should be intensified. Likewise, interdisciplinary cooperation in the field of research into cultural heritage should be promoted, especially the interaction of literary studies and linguistics with library and museum science. In addition to new research results, innovative forms of teaching and learning should be developed, particularly digital formats. The main target group of the project were European students: They should be introduced to various fields of research and communication activities on European cultural heritage in archives, libraries and museums.
The project aimed at fostering European cooperation in research and pedagogical work on cultural heritage. It was identified as a central need to improve the cooperation between universities and cultural institutions such as museums, libraries and archives in a European context. The goal was to establish structures for cross-sector cooperation in the field. In particularly, European students should benefit from the cooperation between scientists and practitioners. The project was intended to give them professional orientation in various sectors of work on European cultural heritage, from the librarian classification of sources of cultural heritage to techniques of their medial presentation in exhibition contexts. The project should therefore lead the way from science to practice.