From Einstein and Freud to Hugo and Chagall, immigrants have in many ways influenced social, cultural, and economic development of Europe. Their contributions testify to the value of cultural diversity, reminding us why migrations should be seen as one of the greatest strengths of today’s Europe.

Inspired by this theme, the online portal Europeana started a special collection dedicated to migrations to celebrate European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Launched in December 2017 to coincide with United Nations’ International Migrants Day, Europeana Migration Collection promotes cultural heritage of migration by highlighting folklore traditions, artworks, films, and other digitised cultural assets related to migration. The collection celebrates the creativity and cultural contribution of migrants, highlighting the values of cultural diversity and its significance for Europe.

Unveiling Migrant Stories

Starting with 200,000 digitised objects from more than 750 archives, museums, galleries, and libraries across Europe, the collection has developed to one of the richest testimonies of migrants’ contributions to European heritage. In a retrospective article commenting on the ideas and development of the project, Europeana Chief Culture Officer Zubia Naqvi explained why this is so important for Europe. He said:

“We are a multicultural, diverse and dynamic group of people that work together because we believe that we can transform the world with culture. We see our diversity as a catalyst for change because we want to keep evolving, actively working, using our skills, and working with culture and technology to contribute to a more dynamic society.”

Together with a special campaign that is taking place throughout European Year of Cultural Heritage, the collection is a part of a major initiative to raise awareness of the theme of migration. The campaign includes dozens of activities throughout Europe, including a European Migration Collection Day: New Irish Communities which will be celebrated during Heritage Week in Ireland.

Organised by EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, the Heritage Week collection day will offer an opportunity to citizens to tell their personal stories of migration and present it to the entire Europe. This will be one in the series of Europeana Migrations events and activities, which will be taking place throughout the year in Europe. The full list of activities can be viewed here.  

Focusing on this important theme, Europeana helps raise awareness of migration as a part of European history and as one of its greatest strengths. In 2018, this theme is particularly important as it shows the extent to which shared heritage is a part of Europe and why it should be cherished in future.

Photo credits:

Carnaval del Pueblo in south London, Source: Europeana

Бежанци, Institution Central Library of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Source: Europeana