The third of the three transmedia exhibitions included in the European Digital Treasures project, European Discoveries: From the New World to New Technologies, was successfully opened at the General Archive of the Indies (Spain) on the 29th of April.
The exhibition, open to the public until the 29th of July, analyses the scientific and technological discoveries that have been vital engines for the material progress and wealth of Europe, through the documentary treasures kept by the European archives.
This exhibition tries to show that discoveries and inventions lie at the heart of Europe’s cultural heritage. Archives in Europe abound with documents and materials that witness the constant desire to explore and to discover, and these documents tell thousands of different stories. The three pillars of this exhibition –Medicine, Energy/Industry, Transport/Navigation– are an attempt to provide a glimpse of the multifarious variety of stories, events and personalities involved in discoveries of many different types, during the long history of Europe. It is thus an exhibition not only about the discoveries themselves, but also about their archival memory, recording one of Europe’s most distinctive cultural traits.
In addition to the documents, the exhibition is completed with transmedia tools to bring its content closer through experimentation and play.
The opening was chaired by Severiano Hernández Vicente, Head of the Spanish State Archives, by María Oliván, Head of the Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents Unit of the European Commission, and by Esther Cruces, Director of the General Archives of the Indies.
Practical information:
Written by Spanish State Archives
