After Mons 2015, the European momentum is continuing at the Mundaneum. The archives centre and exhibition space Mundaneum in Mons is the first Belgian site to receive the European Heritage Label. A historical peace symbol through European culture.
© Mundaneum – Patrick Tombelle
The European Heritage Label is awarded to sites that play a part in the European integration, ideals and history. Selection criteria are the European dimension, the quality of information and activities and the accessibility. So far, 29 sites in Europe have received this label.
Why was the Mundaneum awarded the label ?
Located in the heart of Mons, this magnificent Art Deco style archives and documentation centre of the French Community contains series of documents (posters, post cards, newspapers, etc.) on all subjects from all times.
Established in 1895, the Office international de la bibliographie had the ambition to gather all knowledge in the world and to classify it according to a system of Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), in order to share it afterwards. A kind of precursor in paper form of the current internet.
This utopic project was launched and developed by two Belgian lawyers, Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine (Nobel Peace prize in 1913), who took part in the pacifistic, intellectual and political debates that were held throughout Europe on the subject of politics, representativeness, human rights, economics and international trade. In doing so, they had been building a network of persons and institutions creating intercultural exchanges based on national and regional diversity.
Today, the Mundaneum presents original exhibitions, aiming to enable dialogue between History and perspective in an educational and playful way. Each exhibition goes with a series of thematic activities in order to encourage debate and the exchange of information.
