Sharing History

Over the course of three years, museum curators and historians from 22 countries have worked together to depict, for the first time, a core period of their shared history as a common historical legacy that takes into account the specific perspectives of all parties.

The results are ten international online exhibitions exploring themes of central importance to Arab–Ottoman–European relations in the 19th century. The exhibitions show a rich spectrum of art works, documents, historical photographs and everyday objects as well as buildings and locations from the participating countries. Numerous objects have now been made accessible to the public for the first time, along with all of the material gathered within the framework of Sharing History that documents our common past.

The project initiated by Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF) is the first attempt to specifically address Arab–Ottoman–European history in a way that includes all parties. The research at the start of the project thus brought unexpected discoveries for many of the partners about the diversity and intensity of our relations in the 19th century and the cultural heritage documenting this period of our common history. A potential upon which we can build a common future, and an experience that bears witness to the fact that there is far more connecting us than we realise.

To design the exhibitions the curators of the partner institutions had access to a database of 2,490 objects specially brought together for this project. Visitors to the virtual museum can use this database to conduct further research or compile personal collections (My Collection).