European Heritage Volunteers has been active in heritage-related volunteering for more than twenty years. Its objective is to establish links between the fields of heritage and volunteering by continuously working to foster a deeper understanding of heritage and volunteering among those active in either field, and by linking the two fields through practical hands-on projects and educational activities.
Projects take place all over Europe, stretching from Portugal in the West to Armenia in the East, from the North of Russia to the South of Italy. One of the organisation’s main objectives is to organise projects at heritage sites that has traditionally been over-looked or pushed aside in favour of more well-known sites, but that nevertheless have strong tangible or intangible value. European Heritage Volunteers’ holistic approach to heritage maintenance aims to draw the public’s attention to these undervalued heritage sites and to the activities necessary for their conservation, restoration and revitalisation.
Furthermore, European Heritage Volunteers works to enable heritage activists to network throughout Europe – heritage-related initiatives in the field of volunteering for heritage as well as young heritage experts and young heritage reporters – in order to facilitate the exchange of experiences, ideas and best-practice models and to stimulate interaction.