About us

In 2004, the Department for architecture and heirtage within the French Ministry of Culture and Communication launched the “Archiréseau France” website, set up to compile an inventory of institutions in France promoting and showcasing contemporary architecture, the breadth and diversity of which are not sufficiently well known, together with a wide range of other relevant sources of information on architecture.

The French Ministry of Culture and Communication wanted this site to be extended to cover similar institutions in the whole of the European Union so that the general public and professionals in the relevant fields could have a European map of cultural, professional and educational architecture-related resources.

The purpose of this European map for the promotion of architecture was to compile an inventory in each of the European Union member states of:

- institutions and bodies promoting architecture (roughly 500),
- professional organisations at national and regional level (roughly 500),
- colleges of architecture (over 300),
- the catalogues of national libraries, accessible online thanks to the “European Library” project (30),
- reviews and journals specialising in architecture, using the database designed and developed by the Cité de - l’architecture et du patrimoine (approximately 800 periodicals),
- the institutions in charge of architecture policy in the EU member states (65).

Also available online are some 24 links to European and international sites and a number of virtual architecture exhibitions.

Visitors to the website can search by theme or by geographical area.

Searching by theme will help locate architecture information centres, colleges of architecture, professional associations, journals or publications, etc.

The geographical search function, with its interactive map of Europe, makes it possible to narrow down the search to a particular country. The home page for each country provides a short presentation of architectural policy, a link to the ministry responsible for architecture and access to thematic data.

Lastly, the site has a “European cultural agenda” function, providing up-to-date information on architectural exhibitions and events taking place in Europe.

The construction of this Website has been made possible thanks to the participation of our European partners:

- embassies in France and Europe,
- representatives of the Ministries in charge of architectural politicies,
- professional bodies,
- institutions promoting architecture.

Finally, the European Forum for architectural policies has contributed to the contents in putting at our disposal its study on architectural policies in Europe.