11
The Early Search for a National Past in
Europe (1789–1820)
In the nineteenth century, the allure of the past of the Great Civilizations was
soon to be contested by an alternative—that of the national past. This interest
had already grown in the pre-Romantic era connected to an emerging ethnic
or cultural nationalism (Chapter 2). However, its charm would not be as
enticing to the lay European man and woman of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, who were much more under the inXuence of neoclas-
sicism (Chapter 3). The Western European nations had no monuments
comparable to the remains of Greece, Rome or Egypt. Before the Roman
expansion into most of Western Europe in antiquity, there had been few
signiWcant buildings, apart from unspectacular prehistoric tombs and mega-
lithic monuments whose signiWcance was unrecognized by the modern
scholar. Roman remains beyond Italy were not as impressive as those found
to the south of the Alps. Because of this it seemed much more interesting to
study the rich descriptions the ancient authors had left about the local peoples
and institutions the Romans had created during their conquest. Throughout
the eighteenth century the historical study of medieval buildings and antiqui-
ties had also increasingly been gaining appeal. In Britain their study instigated
the early creation of associations such as the Society of Antiquaries of 1707,
but even this early interest did not lead to medieval antiquities receiving
attention in institutions such as the British Museum, where they would only
receive a proper departmental status well into the nineteenth century (Smiles
2004: 176). In comparative terms, the national past and its relics were
perceived by many to be of secondary rate when judged against the history
and arts of the classical civilizations. During the French Revolution and its
immediate aftermath, for example, the national past would not be as appre-
ciated by as many people and antiquarians as that of the Great Civilizations
(Jourdan 1996).
This situation, however, started to change in the early nineteenth century.
There were three key developments in this period, all inherited from Enlight-
enment beliefs, which were the foundation for archaeology as a source of
national pride. The eVects of these would be seen especially from the central