03.12.2010: The Institute of European History (IEG) links historians and people interested in history by providing a new internet portal

500 years of modern European history across countries, disciplines and methodical boundaries

The State Secretary for Science, Michael Ebling, as deputy to Minister Doris Ahnen, conveyed his cordial congratulations to the Institute of European History (IEG): "The Institute of European History can look back on 60 years of successful work. Today, it presents an exciting Internet project for scientists and the general public. It opens up 500 years of modern European history across countries, disciplines and methodical boundaries. This was one of the reasons why the science council has recently recommended the Mainz Institute of European History for a subsidy from the federal government and states in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Science Association (WGL)," said State Secretary Ebling in his welcoming address. "I cannot imagine a nicer gift for our 60th anniversary."

The "European History Online" (EGO) internet project was particularly singled out as positive by the science council. The project was released to the public today and has been executed in cooperation with Trier university. It illustrates the important role that the Internet now plays in the humanities. EGO links ten topical clusters from religion, politics, science, and law, to art and music, science, technology, and the military, including images, source texts, statistics, animated and interactive maps, as well as audio and film documents. The online publication is created by international and interdisciplinary cooperation and gets editorial support from more than 20 renowned specialist scientists.

"The 'European History Online' project will ideally link all representatives of the historically oriented sciences and integrate young scientists as authors," said Ebling.

The pilot phase of the project was subsidized with EUR 114,000 from the "Knowledge shapes the future" university program by the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. "The fact that the Science Council is also of the opinion that EGO is based on a convincing interdisciplinary concept and promises valuable returns for science, is a reassuring confirmation that the investments of the 'Knowledge shapes the future' university program are worthwhile," said Ebling. The portal addresses scientific workers, as well as people with historical interests in the fields of journalism, school or adult education.

The Science Council emphasized in November that the services of the IEG are of interregional importance and of interest to the whole state. The Mainz institute occupies a singular position in German and international research, and the Science Council continued in its recommendation. This includes orienting research activities toward the historical basis of modern Europe since the early-modern age, the connection between general European history and the history of religion, as well as the nationally and internationally renowned support of young scientists and the services in high demand for the historical sciences. The financial contribution of the state, which annually supports the IEG to the amount of almost EUR 2 million, was singled out as positive.