All I do is build cities in creative, so if you're like me and like to have a historical basis for a few of them, you spend half the time trying to find good reference images of castles, historical buildings and styles of architecture, etc etc. And Google Images is not the best tool for this… HOWEVER, I don't know who runs Europeana or what sort of funding they have but holy cats. Architecture as far as the eye can see. AND ACTUAL BUILDING PLANS. SOME WITH ACTUAL DIMENSIONS. (They also have detailed images of interiors, details on exteriors, pretty much everything you can think of. And lots and lots of art)

It does take a little finagling to get it to search the way you want but once you figure it out, it's great. Sometimes you have to go to the specific organization/museum/limited-access-or-country-specific-but-Europeana-has-access little websites to actually see the plans but for the most part a lot of it you can view from the site.

SOME SEARCH TIPS:

• Sometimes you need to use the local name for the building (ex. Instead of 'Church of Peace' try 'Friedenskirche' or 'Palace of Westminster' for 'Houses of Parliament')
• Sometimes the local language name is not enough, so you need to add a location (ex. 'Friedenskirche' and 'Potsdam')
• Did you know that there is a second Versailles?? Well, technically it's a mini one in Bavaria (Thanks Ludwig II) but that's neither here nor there. Sometimes the building names are really common. Try using the architect's last name to search for the building you want
• You might need to add the word 'Architecture' and limit your search to images, especially if the building is really famous or iconic or really really old

I've made an album with some of the search results and some pictures of the version of the Friedenskirche which I've been building on and off in game based off the plans I found on the site. Hopefully someone out here finds it as useful as I did!