The article is devoted to the current correspondense between traditional and innovative approaches to the functioning of cultural heritage of the Old World. The author argues that the changes taking place with the latter are primarily based on the total digitalization of European society, and innovative business practices are not adapted to this more than classical way of consuming products of classical culture. This circumstance is considered in detail in the article using data from Eurostat and Eurobarometer statistics. Factors that can now characterize the innovative dimension of cultural heritage in the EU have been identified. It is established that the interaction of traditional and innovative is now the leading trend for both prospects and theoretical understanding of nature of the modern existence of European cultural heritage.
cultural heritage; EU; statistics of innovations; digital society.