European Heritage Days

Last updated on Monday, 21/09/2020

European culture in all its forms waits to be discovered during the European Heritage Days, every year, between August and October.

According to the UNESCO, cultural heritage embraces both tangible heritage - movable like a painting, immovable like a monument or underwater as shipwrecks - and intangible heritage like a ritual or a tradition.

Europe alone hosts hundreds of cultural treasures and a great moment to discover them is during the European Heritage Days, taking place from August to October.

This action began in 1985 at the initiative of the Council of Europe that was joined by the European Commission in 1999. The European Heritage Days (EHD) aim at raising European citizens’ awareness of the richness and cultural diversity of Europe, as well as at countering racism and xenophobia and encouraging greater tolerance in Europe and beyond.

The EHDs events, under the slogan "Europe, a common heritage", involve: the 50 countries party to the European Cultural Convention, around 20 million of visitors per year, more than 70,000 events and over 30,000 monuments and sites (included some normally closed to the public).

Every year a theme is chosen and cultural events are organised to highlight local traditions, architecture and works of art. The theme for 2020 is Heritage and Education. 

Cultural heritage helps to bring Europeans together, whatever their cultural, linguistic or religious backgrounds. Let’s keep that in mind.