Public Pantheons in Revolutionary Europe: Comparing cultures of remembrance, c. 1790-1840

Abstract

Drawing on a wide range of sources, Eveline G. Bouwers probes the construction and reception of remembrance cultures across early-nineteenth-century Europe. By way of an in-depth analysis of public pantheons (i.e. buildings where exemplary individuals were commemorated) she offers new insights into the cultural dimension of State formation and the politics of elite memory at a time usually associated with the spread of liberal-democratic ideas. Discussing in detail the canon of men and women included in each pantheon as well as the iconography of the built-space, Bouwers' study draws comparisons between commemorative practices in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. In doing so, she points out that the commemoration of war and celebration of nationhood progressively gave way to the protection of elite interests, and in highlighting the peculiarities of each case, also provocatively claims that a shared European cultural history existed at the dawn of the Age of Nationalism.