Welcome to the Europa Nostra Digital Agora!
Born as a creative response to the confinement and physical distancing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, this virtual platform aims at sharing and promoting digital best practices related to culture and cultural heritage from across Europe and the world. Through this platform, citizens, civil society organisations and so many cultural (heritage) operators can connect, interact and learn from one another across various types of borders and barriers.
Today so many citizens and organisations are learning and adapting – in such a quick pace – to live, work, learn and communicate in a different way, often from home and in self-isolation. Museums and cultural organisations have seized this occasion to re-engage with their audiences and reach new ones through creative and innovative digital solutions – such as free online content, social media challenges, online concerts or webinars. By sharing and promoting related news and content, we wish to optimise people’s confinement, while giving more visibility and understanding of Europe’s “Unity in Diversity” and advancing the digital shift.
You can explore our collection via the drop-down menu on your left, ranging from virtual tours, online performances, webinars, podcasts, resources, social media challenges, to the latest EU policy updates.
You can also get involved in our Agora by:
We wish you an enriching and inspiring virtual journey and interaction,
The Europa Nostra Agora Team
Europa Nostra Agora banner - Tribute to a great Italian and European master
This year marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520), the famous Italian Renaissance artist and architect.
Around the world, manifold exhibitions and celebrations to mark the occasion were planned for 2020 but most of them have been cancelled or put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the highlights and the biggest exhibition ever devoted to Raphael opened on March 5th in Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale and includes over 100 works by the artist himself. Unfortunately, the exhibition was forced to close its doors just four days after its opening after the nationwide lockdown in Italy.
To pay tribute to this immense artist, we have chosen to illustrate our digital Agora with one of his most popular art pieces: the "School of Athens”. The fresco painting placing Plato alongside Aristotle is part of a bigger complex. Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the four rooms in the Apostolic Palace which formed part of the papal apartments. The painting has long been seen as "Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the Renaissance". The painting is notable for its accurate perspective projection. The most famous philosophers of ancient times move within an imposing Renaissance architecture which is inspired by Bramante's project for the renewal of the early Christian basilica of St Peter.
The Vatican Museums offer a virtual tour of the Raphael Rooms with a 360 degree view of each room thus offering to everyone the experience to enjoy this extraordinary masterpiece in it's original setting while staying in the safety of their home.
