3DIcons aims to digitise a series of architectural and archaeological masterpieces of world and European cultural significance and provide 3D models and related digital content to Europeana, with the purpose of contributing to the critical mass of highly engaging content available to users.

The provision of high quality 3D cultural heritage content goes above the current technological trends. It provides a highly attractive format for engaging with the cultural heritage which is increasingly popular with users as it allows better understanding and appreciation of our cultural treasures.

The project will exploit existing tools and methods, to integrate them in a complete supply chain of 3D digitisation to contribute a significant mass of 3D content to Europeana. It will focus on UNESCO World Heritage monuments and other monuments of outstanding value at European level, to illustrate a particular strand of Europe’s history. The project aims to complement the collections which are being made accessible to Europeana via CARARE, Europeana Local, Athena and other projects which have developed the content base for the archaeological and architectural heritage. In particular, 3D-ICONS aims to complement the 3D content brought to Europeana via the CARARE project and to increase the critical mass of this engaging content.