Last summer, Google launched the World Wonders Project as part of the Google Cultural Institute. In October, the company announced the addition of 42 new historical online exhibitions to the Institute. Last month, Google helped bring Genesis and the Ten Commandments online.
Now, the company is talking about the work it has been doing with the German-Franco Institute, German-Franco University and The Office for French-German Youth to put together another round of online exhibitions related to five decades of “Franco-German friendship”.
The exhibitions include videos, photos, documents and expert commentary.
“France and Germany today celebrate 50 years since the signing of the Elysee Treaty in Paris by French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer,” says Philipp Bieberstein of the Google Cultural Institute. “The treaty marked a dramatic move away from hostility towards an era of unprecedented cooperation. The two nations soon came together as founding members of the European Union and to forge a partnership that would usher in an era of peace and prosperity in Europe.”
“A particular highlight is a digital copy of the original Elysee Treaty supplied by the German Foreign Office,” he says. “Visitors may zoom in to read the details of the agreement. Videos from the Memory of the Nation project explain what the postwar political relationship has meant to ordinary citizens. Testimony from people present in the crowd during De Gaulle’s speech to the German Youth calling Germany a ‘great nation’ and photos from the 300,000 exchanges between French and German youths help to capture the spirit of the new partnership. Around 170 multimedia items chart the history of how the Treaty led to the formation of the European Union and the evolution of the French-German relationship to the present day.”
In addition to their online presence, the exhibitions are being displayed at the German Foreign Office in Berlin. They will be open to the public until mid-March.
Go to the Google Cultural Institute and browse the projects.