The "Warburg Electronic Library" is an interdisciplinary co-operative project of the Seminar of Art History at the University of Hamburg and the Department for Information and Communication Technologyy at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg.

The project, begun in 1997, is based on the well-known "Image Index of Political Iconography" (Bildindex zur Politischen Ikonographie) which was developed by a research department at the Warburg-Haus in Hamburg. The Image Index gives an iconographic overview of the variety of phenomena which reflect political concepts, processes and demands and their relevance for the history of the arts.

The art historical experiences documented in the Image Index constitute a challenge to today's information and computer sciences to evaluate and develop new forms of adequate, up-to-date technology (multi-media databases, analysis of highly sophisticated research domains, network communication etc.). The results of this project may also be employed in other areas such as advertising and journalism.