Museums all over the world take pride in their masterpieces: they publish special catalogues of masterpieces. they identify them in their exhibitions. they use themes icons. and they are the first objects that many visitors flock to see in a museum. They are special. People are fascinated by those pieces of art and culture of such quality that they transcend the ordinary to speak across time about cultural expression and achievement. For museums certain objects or art are considered masterpieces not just for their beauty or sophistication but because of their rarity or success in showing an economic. social. philosophical and cultural manifestation of the artist' s world-view. The Virtual Collection of Masterpieces is a project of ASEMUS the Asia Europe Museum Network that uses the Internet and masterpieces in the collections of contributing museums in a project to promote wider mutual understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe. These finest examples of Asian and European creativity present compelling images and information and allow the telling of forceful stories. Stories that draw attention to the similarities and differences between civilizations. Stories that enhance mutual understanding of cultural differences and highlight similarities. Stories that stimulate dialogue between peoples and illuminate their histories. Stories that contribute to the democratization of culture. The Virtual Collection of Masterpieces (VCM) is a Web-accessible selection of images of and accompanying information on masterpieces from museum collections from Asian museums and European museums with Asian collections. Web visitors will be able to explore hundreds of masterpieces online. Stories told and exhibits mounted from the VCM collection will be by project-curated applications and the curatorial. interpretive , and interactive activities of the virtual audience. Each will have the opportunity to work with the collection - in English and the original language of submission - to make their own exhibits , create classroom activities , publish , tell their own stories , and explore their own worlds of masterpieces For example of Virtual Exhibition Room , Visitors may prepare their own exhibition rooms on a virtual exhibition space by dragging and dropping into the relic-icons. The theme of exhibition is unrestricted. When an exhibition is selected as an excellent example , it is possible to receive an entrance fee in cyber money under a prior permission agreement with the web-site administrator. A certain amount of cyber money will be provided for those who join the site for the first time. Currently 51 museums from 22 countries contribute to the VCM with a total of 1.000 masterpieces. There are 29 museums from Asia and 22 from Europe. You can find the Virtual Collection at (http: //masterpieces.asemus.museum