Overview

Europeana searches digitized artworks, books, music, and videos from 3,000+ European cultural institutions. Great for beginners building cultural exploration apps or digital humanities projects.

Beginner Tip

Register for a free API key at APIs.europeana.eu—approval is instant. Include wskey=YOUR_KEY in every request query string.

Available Data

The kind of data this API exposes, based on its documentation. We could not call the endpoint to confirm the exact field names.

Europeana data via REST API

Example Response

Illustrative shape only — we were not able to call this endpoint (it requires credentials or exposes no public sample URL), so the fields below show the kind of data this API returns rather than a recorded response.

JSON Response · Illustrative
{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "result": "Data from Europeana",
    "description": "European Museum and Galleries content",
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Field Reference

items[].title Title of the cultural object, may contain multiple language variants
items[].edmIsShownAt URL to the object on the providing institution website
items[].edmPreview Thumbnail image URL for the object
items[].dataProvider Name of the institution that contributed the record
totalResults Total number of records matching the query

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://api.europeana.eu/record/v2/search.json?query=painting&rows=5&wskey=YOUR_KEY";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

401 Unauthorized wskey parameter missing from the request URL
Append &wskey=YOUR_KEY to every request
No results returned Query too specific or using unsupported field syntax
Start with a simple keyword like ?query=painting&wskey=YOUR_KEY then add filters one at a time
Slow response on large result sets Fetching too many rows with full field data
Use &rows=12&profile=minimal to limit payload size significantly

Metadata Score Breakdown

Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested

This score is estimated from observable metadata — HTTPS support, authentication model, declared CORS, and documentation reachability — because the API requires authentication or exposes no publicly testable endpoint. The five-signal breakdown is only shown for live-tested APIs.

Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested

Technical Specifications

Auth API Key
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Art & Design
Difficulty Intermediate
Listing details not endpoint-verified

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