European Heritage Alliance

The European Heritage Alliance is an informal platform of 51 European and international networks active in the wider field of heritage. It brings together civil society, historic cities and villages, educational institutions, museums and similar organisations. In 2021, the Alliance celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Joint advocacy for cultural heritage is at the heart of the Alliance. The Alliance meets at least twice a year to allow for a regular and structured dialogue between the members and with EU institutions.

In 2020, the European Heritage Alliance launched the Manifesto “Cultural Heritage: a powerful catalyst for the future of Europe”, conveying a strong message of solidarity, hope and unity to Europe’s leaders and citizens at a time when Europe and the entire planet were struggling to overcome an unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemics.

Through this Manifesto, representatives of major European and international heritage networks expressed the readiness of the wider heritage world to contribute to Europe’s immediate social and economic recovery, as well as to the longer-term advancement of the European project. The Manifesto also puts forward the 7 most important ways in which cultural heritage can act as a catalyst for positive change.

The Alliance was created in Amsterdam during the 2011 European Heritage Congress organised by Europa Nostra. As initiator and founding member, Europa Nostra has been acting as coordinator of the Alliance since the beginning and these activities are co-funded by the EU as part of our network project “Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values” (2017-2021).

Find out more about the Alliance on its dedicated website.