prometheus is a distributed digital image archive that currently makes more than 4.150.000 images of 136 databases from institutes, research facilities and museums researchable on a common user interface.

Situated at the Institute of Art History of the University of Cologne, prometheus is supported by the non-profit association prometheus e.V. which promotes the ongoing developments of the digital media for science and research.


Image series of the week

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The Coastal Town of Étretat
A Popular Subject in Art – As early as the 19th century, from the 1820s onwards, numerous artists from across Europe were drawn to the small fishing village of Étretat in Normandy, … | more...


News

Zoom in on thumbnails

6 May 2026 | By: Corinna

To help you avoid having to click on every image in your search results to decide whether it’s suitable, and to allow you to narrow down your options more effectively, a zoom feature is available.

When this feature is turned on, you’ll see a magnified view while you hover your mouse over the image.

You can turn this feature on or off in the list view of your search results (which displays basic image metadata), in the gallery view with thumbnails, as well as in image collections, your favorites, and your uploads.

If you prefer to work with or without zoom, you don’t have to turn it on or off for each view; instead, you can set it by checking the box under “zoom thumbnails” in your settings. You also have this option there for image collection entries, uploads, and favorites.

More: +++ Heinrich Pieroth Collection +++ Over 4 million +++ Customize ... +++ Searching the image archive. Simple and more +++ Favorite image collections and datasets