europeana-collections

# Europeana Collections API Skill Search 50M+ cultural heritage items from 4,000+ European institutions. ## Critical: Things Claude Won't Know Without This Skill ### API key is required — use `api2demo` for testing Every request needs a `wskey` parameter. The demo key `api2demo` works for development/testing. For production use, register for a free key at https://www.europeana.eu/en/account/api-keys. ``` https://api.europeana.eu/record/v2/search.json?query=vermeer&wskey=api2demo ``` ### Response fields use Dublin Core / EDM naming Fields are prefixed with `dc` (Dublin Core) or `edm` (Europeana Data Model): - `title` — array of title strings - `dcCreator` — creator names - `dcDescription` — descriptions - `year` — year(s) as strings - `country` — country of holding institution - `dataProvider` — institution name (e.g., "Rijksmuseum") - `rights` — license URL - `edmPreview` — thumbnail URL - `edmIsShownAt` — link to item on provider's site - `type` — `IMAGE`, `TEXT`, `SOUND`, `VIDEO`, `3D` ### Filter for open-access with `reusability=open` ``` ?query=vermeer&reusability=open ``` Returns only items with open licenses (Public Domain, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA). ### Multilingual titles use `LangAware` suffix `dcTitleLangAware` contains titles keyed by language code: ```json {"en": ["The Milkmaid"], "nl": ["Het melkmeisje"]} ``` ## Key Search Parameters | Param | Description | Example | |-------|-------------|---------| | `query` | Search query (Lucene syntax) | `query=vermeer` | | `qf` | Query filter (field:value) | `qf=TYPE:IMAGE` | | `reusability` | License filter: `open`, `restricted`, `permission` | `reusability=open` | | `media` | Has media (`true`/`false`) | `media=true` | | `rows` | Results per page (max 100) | `rows=20` | | `start` | Result offset (1-based) | `start=21` | | `sort` | Sort field | `sort=score+desc` | | `wskey` | API key (required) | `wskey=api2demo` | | `profile` | Response detail: `minimal`, `standard`, `rich` | `profile=rich` | ### Query Filters (`qf=`) | Filter | Values | |--------|--------| | `TYPE` | `IMAGE`, `TEXT`, `SOUND`, `VIDEO`, `3D` | | `COUNTRY` | Country name (e.g., `Netherlands`) | | `LANGUAGE` | ISO code (e.g., `en`, `nl`, `de`) | | `PROVIDER` | Provider name | | `DATA_PROVIDER` | Institution name | | `RIGHTS` | License URL | | `what` | Subject/keyword | | `where` | Place | | `when` | Time period | Multiple filters: repeat `qf=` parameter. ## Record Lookup ``` https://api.europeana.eu/record/v2/{RECORD_ID}.json?wskey=api2demo ``` Record IDs look like `/15502/GG_9128` (from the `id` field in search results). ## Response Structure ```json { "success": true, "totalResults": 1573, "items": [ { "id": "/90402/SK_A_2344", "title": ["The Milkmaid", "Het melkmeisje"], "dcCreator": ["Johannes Vermeer"], "year": ["1660"], "country": ["Netherlands"], "dataProvider": ["Rijksmuseum"], "type": "IMAGE", "rights": ["http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"], "edmPreview": ["https://api.europeana.eu/thumbnail/v2/..."], "edmIsShownAt": ["http://hdl.handle.net/..."], "edmIsShownBy": ["https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/..."], "score": 20.9 } ] } ``` ## Python Script ```python from scripts.europeana_api import EuropeanaAPI eu = EuropeanaAPI() # uses api2demo key by default # Basic search results = eu.search("vermeer") # Filtered search results = eu.search("medieval manuscript", type="TEXT", country="France", reusability="open") # Get single record record = eu.get_record("/15502/GG_9128") # Summarize for r in results: print(eu.summarize(r)) ``` ## API Etiquette - Free API key required (register at europeana.eu) - Demo key `api2demo` for testing only - No published rate limit for free keys; project keys available for higher throughput - Include descriptive User-Agent header ## Related Skills - **wikidata-search**: Cross-reference Europeana items with Wikidata entities - **harvard-library-catalog**: Compare European holdings with Harvard's collection - **loc-catalog**: Cross-reference with Library of Congress digitized collections ## Resources - `references/api_reference.md` — Complete query filter and response field reference - `scripts/europeana_api.py` — Python client with search, record lookup, and open-access filtering