Politics of Cultural Marking in Mini-Europe: Anchoring European Cultural Identity in a Theme Park

Mini-Europe—a theme park in Brussels morally supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament—consists of around 350 models of different buildings and heritage sites from all the member states of the European Union. In addition the park includes an exhibition named the Spirit of Europe.

The article explores how the European cultural identity is constructed and ‘sold’ in Mini-Europe, and how history, geography and local and regional traditions are intertwined into a politics of cultural marking, an ideology of European integration and a creation of shared symbols. European cultural identity has often been generated through appeals to an ancient or classical past, which is produced by stressing certain themes or ‘parts’ of Europe. Representing these ‘parts’ as common European culture is a profoundly exclusive strategy: heritage of a particular temporal or spatial unit is narrated as shared by the contemporary citizens in Europe.

Mini-Europe can be interpreted as an indication of this kind of pan-Europeanist ideology. In addition, in Mini-Europe the European culture and identity is represented through signs, which do not refer to Europeanness as such, but function as signifiers of famous tourist attractions of particular member states in the European Union.