The House of European History attempts to tell a transnational story using objects, documents, and audio-visual testimonies from across Europe and beyond. With no pre-existing collection, finding these items in so many countries and languages required a high degree of teamwork from an international team of curators. As a result, more than 1,000 objects from over 300 lenders in 37 countries were gathered for the permanent and temporary exhibitions.
We now invite you to explore this curation journey by reading the first-ever issue of our new online magazine. Featuring articles that were first published in our book “Creating the House of European History” in 2018, it contains pieces from several of our curators. They each explore how a group of chosen objects in our permanent exhibition encapsulate an historical event, period or theme.
For example, in terms of modern warfare and military atrocities, this issue features a life jacket from the Lusitania, an ocean liner torpedoed during the First World War. Regarding the history of childhood, you can observe tokens that allowed parents to identify children who had been placed into care at the Foundling Hospital in London during the 18th century. Finally, the history of European integration includes a campaign t-shirt, ribbon and ballot paper from the Brexit referendum.
Uncovering the context and history of these items in more detail gives us the chance to understand their profound significance in Europe’s shared memory. We aim to help you step further inside the walls of our museum with this first issue of our magazine, and create a broader understanding of what it means to exhibit European history today.