National Pantheons of Europe: Nation, Commemoration, Sacralization

The research project ʽNational Pantheons of Europe: Nation, Commemoration, Sacralization’ offers a comparative analysis of the greatly under-researched phenomenon of national pantheons. This historically unique type of pantheon was characteristic of the Europe of the so-called long nineteenth century, but spread beyond its borders in the early twentieth century. As new imagined communities, nations needed heroes that they could ritually worship in prestigious places. For this reason, the protagonists of national movements invented pantheons of so-called national greats that materialized as concrete spaces (temples and cemeteries) in which the forces of nationalism, commemoration, and sacralization were intensely intertwined. The project maps and analyzes these pantheons as a pan-European network that merits systematic study; proposes theoretical models for further research; and conducts detailed case studies. Thus, the project demonstrates that comparative research on pantheons is relevant both for the study of national movements and for the more general scholarly work on the emergence of a Europe of nations as a process that has decisively shaped modern history.