Arch'Expo Project
East Sussex and Seine-Maritime have common historical roots. These are represented through a key historical figure, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, King of England. This conquest is at the origin of many commercial, religious, cultural or touristic exchanges developed throughout the centuries. The two local authorities involved in this project carry out similar activities linked to the collation, conservation, classification and dissemination of archives. This means that each of them has to have buildings that are large enough and specifically adapted to store documents that may have be damaged over the centuries or have been badly preserved; but that also provide the best conditions to optimise public access, either to the originals or through providing digitised material that will ensure maximum preservation of documents.
The main objective of the project is therefore to enable circulation between the two regions of documents linked to their common history, also making these accessible to a transfrontier public. Finally, it must also give staff the opportunity to exchange new high-tech skills related to communication, conservation and dissemination. In order to achieve this, an exhibition has taken place on both sides of the Channel in the autumn 2013, showing some original documents and some digitised ones.