In January 2026, the team working witg the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków started the second stage of their project to map the non-governmental heritage sector across Europe. This project is being carried out as part of the European Heritage Hub (EHH) consortium, which is led by Europa Nostra. The International Cultural Centre is managing the project activities, with communication support provided by the Society of Friends of Kraków History and Heritage.
The EHH is one of the largest heritage projects funded by the European Union. The pilot phase of the project took place between 2023 and 2025, and the current second stage is planned to last until 2027. The project brings together over twenty institutions and organisations from across Europe, including the ICC and the Society of Friends of Kraków History and Heritage. It is led by Europa Nostra, the largest and most representative network of cultural heritage organisations in Europe.
Together with the team of the Europa Nostra regional centre in Kraków — the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub for Central and Eastern Europe, run by TMHiZK — the ICC will continue the research work begun in 2023. This resulted in the publication of the report “Mapping the Central and Eastern European Non-Governmental Heritage Sector” two years later. This report provides an overview of the non-governmental heritage sector in ten Central and Eastern European countries, presenting conclusions from statistical and empirical research on its current state, challenges, and requirements. Throughout 2026, the non-governmental heritage sector in Northern and Western European countries (Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) will be analysed and the second part of the report will be prepared in 2027. Ultimately, over the coming years, the mapping will cover the entire European continent and provide a comprehensive analysis of the non-governmental heritage sector, constituting the first study devoted to the activities of the third sector in this field.
The team consists of researchers from Kraków: Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska and Dr Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga, as well as researchers from the Centrum Cyfrowe in Warsaw: Maria Drabczyk, dr Aleksandra Janus and Dr Kuba Piwowar — will be supported by a network of national facilitators. The methodology developed in the pilot phase, which included literature reviews, statistical data analysis, and surveys and interviews with groups and individuals, will be revised and updated for the second stage of the research. Communication activities are led by Łukasz Pieróg and the administrative side of the project is managed by Ewa Wojtoń and Anna Kępińska.
The EHH will also include promotional activities related to heritage, such as podcasts in the ”Holistic Heritage” series, as well as networking activities.
