Mémoire Routes Memory

Today, Cultural Heritage is becoming more and more a part of the tourist industry, for both good and bad. Historical monuments are seen as resources for regional development, and they are also considered important for the identity of people, and their roots and anchoring in a region. This so-called culture tourism is mainly concerned with monuments, like castles, churches and other buildings, what we might call the visible heritage. But there is also another side of the historical heritage, not so obvious to everybody, not so spectacular, but still important, especially when it comes to understanding the early development of our European society. This cultural heritage is more or less invisible and is only detectable through archaeological investigations and excavations. What I would like to point out here today is the importance of this archaeological record, both for the understanding of our early history in Europe, and the historical contacts between our different countries. But...

  Cliché MTP. Tous les participants réunis au Centre Culturel Européen de Delphes, le 13 Mai 2006, à l’occasion de l’attribution par le Conseil de l’Europe de la Mention «  Grand Itinéraire Culturel  » à l’Itinéraire Culturel «  Les Routes de l’Olivier   », et d ans le cadre du Forum sur les Itinéraires Culturels Européens en tant qu’outil pour le dialogue interculturel, le développement durable, le tourisme culturel et l’intégration européenne, organisé par le Ministre Hellénique de la Culture et la Chambre de Commerce de Messinia, Grèce et à  l’occasion de la proclamation par le gouvernement grec de l’Année 2006 comme l’Année de l’Olivier , d es représentants de pays membres du Conseil de l’Europe, des porteurs d’itinéraires culturels, des ONGs, des associations, des représentants du domaine privé coopérant avec les itinéraires culturels ainsi que des représentants des médias...   Cliché MTP. Ils se sont mis d’accord pour faire un appel au Consei...

  Let us not be under any illusions.   Heritage as such is, fundamentally, a particularly reactionary concept.   Especially since there is no such thing as heritage; it is merely a concept and a vehicle for very often political discourse which can extremely easily, as experience has shown, lead to exclusion by asserting nationalism and placing undue value on a given culture. As many people have pointed out, the very word “ heritage ” itself refers to the accumulated property of wealthy families and is part of their value system - with all that could be said about that from a neo-Marxist point of view. Furthermore, historically, in its most frequent meaning, it refers to a series of prestigious buildings - the buildings erected by royalty, the aristocracy and the Church, ie the centres of power belonging to those who wielded power in past centuries. The castle or château, which today forms part of the historic heritage, is primarily the legacy of a family wishing to ...

Cliche @ Getty images Since the 19th century (with the emergence of the concept of folklore, the establishment of ethnological and folk museums and the recording of “ folk wisdom ” etc) the notion of a traditional heritage and the ideas of tradition and lore have constantly harked back to the past - a past gone for ever, obliterated by “ modern life ”.  This perception is a reworking of an old, largely nostalgic image of the simplicities of bygone days, an image peculiar to European civilisation with its very specific conception of time. The important question now (and better to ask it late than never) is whether what we call traditions and lore are, in fact, things of the past.  Is heritage merely a set of places and customs, a treasure trove of memory and sentiment that we can contemplate (or need to contemplate) in order to reaffirm our identity through a form of ethnographic irredentism that draws a clear line between our ancestors (seated round the fire on long evenings...