Our origins

The European Cultural Foundation was set up in Geneva in 1954. Its founding figures included the Swiss philosopher Denis de Rougemont, the architect of the European Community Robert Schuman, and HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, under whose presidency the Foundation moved to its current base in Amsterdam. All of these influential figures believed passionately in culture as a vital ingredient for Europe’s post-war rebuilding and healing process. These efforts have since developed into the current state of economic, political and cultural interdependence in Europe.

For more information see  A Brief History of ECF by Anne-Marie Autissier which plots the Foundation’s first 50 years. For an account of more recent developments, download ECF’s 2009 Annual Report or view below.