Historically, cultural politics has constituted a medium – possibly a medium more important than any other - to understand questions of identity and national self-awareness in modern Europe. Ever since the end of the 17th century the cultural policies of the European nation-states have provided a constitutional framework not only for the creation of art, but - more important - for the creation, evolution and reinterpretation of national identity and cultural practises within the individual nation-state. Historically, European cultural politics have therefore been decisive for the territorial merger of identity, language and nation and for the creation and consolidation of the various national ideologies and self reflections which characterise European societies today.



Historically, cultural politics has constituted a medium – possibly a medium more important than any other - to understand questions of identity and national self-awareness in modern Europe. Ever since the end of the 17th century the cultural policies of the European nation-states have provided a constitutional framework not only for the creation of art, but - more important - for the creation, evolution and reinterpretation of national identity and cultural practises within the individual nation-state. Historically, European cultural politics have therefore been decisive for the territorial merger of identity, language and nation and for the creation and consolidation of the various national ideologies and self reflections which characterise European societies today.