2019 – European academic heritage day

Events – European Academic Heritage Day 2019

In order to raise awareness to the importance of university heritage, UNIVERSEUM, the European University Heritage Network, has established 18 November as European University Heritage Day.  On this day, European universities celebrate their common cultural heritage through special activities, debates, conferences and access to their museums, collections and monuments. 

The theme for 2019 is “(R)evolution“:

How does change happen, in nature and in society ? Does it happen gradually over long periods of time ? Or does it happen abruptly and in a breakdown of the existing order ? For 18 November 2019, Universeum encourages reflection and the development of initiatives (r)evolving around the theme “(R)evolution” in its broadest sense.

Over centuries, theories, models and representations of revolution and evolution have driven scientific debates and controversies. The theory of evolution by natural selection, which is overwhelmingly substantiated and acknowledged in the scientific community, has come under attack for political and ideological reasons while concepts of evolution have influenced our understanding of the universe, as well as of societies. Historians, social scientists and literary scholars have declared and dismissed scientific revolutions, political revolutions, industrial revolutions and sexual revolutions, opening up for a wide range of possibilities for public engagement.