The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) marks the 2026 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage with the launch of a new virtual exhibition, Bridge over Europe: Stitching a Continent Together. The exhibition explores the ambitious photographic project created by Amsterdam-based photographers Paul Gofferjé and Trudy Nijman between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Conceived at a time of profound political change in Europe, Bridge over Europe sought to give visual form to European unification through the metaphor of the bridge. Gofferjé and Nijman travelled across the twelve countries of the then-European Community, photographing five bridges in each of the twelve countries with a specialised 360-degree panoramic camera. The resulting sixty panoramic images were digitally stitched together to create the illusion of a single continuous European landscape.
The online exhibition, created by audiovisual archivist trainee Mar Brandi, follows this process from conception to completion. Its four sections explore the origins of the project and its metaphor of connection; the journey across Europe and the selection and photographing of the bridges; the pioneering combination of analogue panoramic photography and emerging digital imaging technologies; and the subsequent exhibition and archival history of the work. The completed panorama, approximately 75 metres long, was first presented publicly in the European Community Pavilion at Expo ’92 in Seville and was later presented in several other venues.
A unique fonds at the HAEU
More than three decades after the Seville Expo, the surviving materials of Bridge over Europe entered a new phase when Paul Gofferjé signed a deposit agreement with the HAEU on 6 November 2023. Thanks to this agreement, the project materials were transferred to the Archives for long-term preservation and public access. The fonds includes panoramic transparencies, colour negatives, digitally stitched slides and other documentation relating to the creation and exhibition of the work. The digitised images may be browsed on the HAEU's multimedia portal.
The exhibition also pays tribute to the photographers behind the project and, in particular, to Paul Gofferjé, who passed away on 28 September 2025. It also acknowledges the essential role of Trudy Nijman in the conception and realisation of Bridge over Europe. Through the preservation and online presentation of the fonds, the HAEU seeks to ensure that the artistic, technological and documentary legacy of Bridge over Europe remains accessible to researchers and the wider public.
By bringing together specialised analogue panoramic photography and emerging digital imaging technologies, Bridge over Europe represents a distinctive moment in the history of photographic practice and visual representation.
According to Juan Alonso, “its preservation goes beyond safeguarding individual photographs: it also means preserving the relationship between analogue originals, digitally constructed images and the different formats through which the work was created and presented”.
“The project illustrates both the richness and the complexity of audiovisual heritage,” Mar added, “while showing how photography can serve not only to record reality, but also to reshape and reinterpret it, and to explore the limits of photographic language.”
Gofferjé and Nijman’s project also raises a question that remains at the heart of the exhibition: How can we create an image of Europe without erasing its differences?
UNESCO’S World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, observed annually on 27 October, highlights the importance of preserving and providing access to audiovisual records as part of our collective memory. The theme of the 2026 edition, “Your Window to the World” emphasises the role of audiovisual heritage in connecting people with different societies, histories and cultures.
Image: 360-degree view of Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. c. 1988–1992. Photo by Paul Gofferjé and Trudy Nijman / HAEU, PG-2_3.