With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for cultural tourists.

If you choose your holiday destinations on the basis of the cultural sites or museums to visit, as 40 % of European tourists do, you may be interested to know how the EU supports sites that are off the beaten track and helps them link up with similar sites in cross-border areas. These often hidden treasures are economic assets and it is important to attract tourists to visit them.

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Two museums in northern France have benefited from EU funds. The Calais Lace Museum, based in the old Boulart lace factory, highlights the shared history of France and England and old and new uses of lace in fashion. Le Louvre-Lens provides an opportunity to enjoy the treasures of the world famous Parisian museum at a lower cost and perhaps closer to home.

Listening to the audioguide
© olly / Fotolia

The EU has also supported the Danube Limes archaeological sites along the lower Danube in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, tracing the borders of the Roman Empire across the region. The aim is to preserve the sites and promote tourism, focusing on common heritage and joining up with other sections of limes to form an extended Unesco cultural heritage site.

A number of wooden Orthodox churches on the Polish-Slovak border and renovated with EU funds are on the Unesco heritage list. Along with other wooden monuments they form part of a wooden architecture route. The EuroVelo 3 Pilgrims Route meanwhile, co-financed by the EU in the context of sustainable tourism, is a cycle path from Norway, via Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France, to Santiago de Compostela, following the ancient Saint James pilgrimage route.

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