Sacrebleu!
France has never been shy about promoting its culture, so few were surprised when it took a close interest in a new digital library intended to showcase Europe’s history, literature, arts and science.
But when the new site, called Europeana, begins life on Thursday, more than half of its two million items will come from just one of the 27 countries in the European Union: France.
So comprehensive is France’s cultural dominance over this cyberspace outpost that other countries are having their own history written for them — in French, of course.
“I find the figures extraordinary,” said Viviane Reding, the European commissioner responsible for the project. “France has half the content — the collapse of the Berlin Wall is illustrated with a French TV documentary.”
She said that some countries that had been skeptical about the project changed their minds now that the library was a reality.
Europeana combines the digital resources of museums and libraries, and the information provided includes paintings, maps, videos and newspapers.
Material is free of copyright so it can be downloaded for blogs, research or schoolwork by anyone with an Internet connection.
video { French singer Serge Gainsbourg burns a 500 franc bill on live TV to show how much he has left after taxes, 1984 | translation | stereohell }
