National Pantheons and the ‘Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe’

Throughout the period of nation-building and especially in its later stages, many European cultural communities attempted to establish their respective national pantheons. This historically unique type of pantheon began its triumphal march during the long nineteenth century and spread beyond Europe in the early twentieth century. As new imagined communities, nations needed heroes they could ritually worship in prestigious places. For this reason, the protagonists of national movements invented pantheons of so-called national greats, which materialised as physical spaces (e.g., temples, cemeteries, sculptural pantheons) in which the forces of nationalism, commemoration and sacralisation were intensely intertwined. From this perspective, it is surprising that national pantheons have not yet been studied in a systematic comparative manner. This lacuna will be addressed by a research project on European national pantheons which will be presented at this event by the PI Marijan Dović. This will be followed by a guest lecture by Joep Leerssen, who is an external partner of the project and the editor of the groundbreaking Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe. Leerssen will present the fascinating online version of the encyclopaedia, focusing on its presentation of national monuments and national pantheons. The event will be concluded by a discussion with Leerssen, the members of the project group and the renowned scholar of memory studies, Ann Rigney.

Programme:

10:00–10:30 Project presentation

Marijan Dović (ZRC SAZU):

National Pantheons of Europe: Nation, Commemoration, Sacralization

10:30–11:30 Guest lecture

Joep Leerssen (University of Amsterdam):

National Pantheons and the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe

11:30–12:00 Discussion

Joep Leerssen, Ann Rigney (Utrecht University), members of the project group, Marijan Dović (chair): 

Comparative research on national pantheons in Europe.

Joep Leerssen is Emeritus Professor of Modern European Literature at the University of Amsterdam and part-time research professor at the Sociaal Historisch Centrum Limburg, Maastricht University. He is the author or editor of eleven books and numerous articles on European cultural history and nationalism. His two-volume edited book Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe (Amsterdam UP, 2018) was listed among the Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year for 2018.