Nominations for the European Heritage Label

New heritage sites are selected for the European Heritage Label every two years. They are first assessed at the national level, resulting in a pre-selection. The final selection is made at the European level.

The aim of the label is to promote the European dimension of the site, to make the site better accessible for European citizens, and to enhance the quality of the activities of and information about the site. The label aims to reach out to young people in particular. Buildings and sites awarded with the European Heritage Label are identified as such by means of a plaque.

Heritage sites that wish to be nominated for the label can register with DutchCulture. The national coordinator Ben de Vries is happy to help organisations fill out and submit their application. DutchCulture’s Jacomine Hendrikse can answer questions and provide practical information.

DutchCulture collects all applications and verifies whether they meet the formal requirements. The applications are then forwarded to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and the Council for Culture, for their assessment. The Ministry of OCW then submits the nominations for the European Heritage Label.

The Netherlands selects sites according to four themes:

1. Tolerance & Justice
2. Mobility & ‘Makeability’
3. Culture & Sport
4. Money & Business Sense

The European Heritage Label Panel is a group of independent experts from across Europe. This panel offers its advice on the candidates submitted by each country. Based on this advice, the European Commission decides which heritage sites will be awarded the European Heritage Label.

The following types of heritage (including contemporary heritage) are eligible for the European Heritage Label:

• Buildings/monuments
• Natural, underwater, archaeological, industrial or urban sites
• Cultural landscapes
• Memorial sites
• Cultural goods and objects and immaterial heritage, as long as they are associated with a certain place, including contemporary heritage.

The European Heritage Label can be awarded to three types of heritage locations:

• Single site: application by a single heritage site
• National thematic site: several heritage sites located in the same Member State that focus on the same theme and submit a joint application
• Transnational sites: several heritage sites located in different Member States that focus on the same theme and submit a joint application, or the application can be submitted by a heritage site located on the territory of at least two Member States. It should be noted that transnational sites are prioritised in the selection procedure.

The European Heritage Label is bestowed in recognition of the European character of a heritage site and increases the public’s appreciation of and support for the site. Heritage sites carrying the European Heritage Label make up part of a European network comprising more than 60 heritage sites. Together they tell the story of Europe.

Being awarded the European Heritage Label does not come with any financial resources attached, although the EU occasionally does make grant schemes available for sites carrying the European Heritage Label.

Heritage sites can exchange experiences and work together. The EU provides heritage sites with a toolkit containing various communication tools, and a film is made of each newly recognised heritage site. DutchCulture helps the heritage sites with advice and communication tools to increase their accessibility for young people, for instance through the European Heritage Label website.

A monitoring round is conducted every four years to verify whether the heritage sites carrying the European Heritage Label continue to meet the criteria.

The nomination procedure for 2025 is currently underway. The national pre-selection of 21 sites was presented in March 2025: 21 sites pre-selected for the 2025 European Heritage Label | Culture and Creativity

The schedule for the nomination procedure of 2027 is (provisionally):

Application deadline for Dutch candidates : 1 October 2026
Advice of the Council for Culture to the Ministry of OCW: mid-December 2026
Decision of the Dutch ministerial council on the nomination of candidates: mid-February 2027
Submission of the Dutch candidates to the European Commission: 1 March 2027
Result of the application: December 2027 - March 2028
Award ceremony (organised by the European Commission): spring/summer 2028

The application forms for the 2025 application round are provided at the bottom of this page. There are separate forms for a single site, national thematic site and transnational thematic site.

For any questions about the application forms, please contact Jacomine Hendrikse.