In the course of the nineteenth century, a true obsession with history arose in the Netherlands. Historical novels, monuments, history education, everything that previously had little interest sprang up like mushrooms. Why the sudden 'history'?
In the summer of 1825 a placard appeared in the streets of important cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague. ‘Sales of Domains. His Majesty the King, audience for demolition, sell the Castle at Muiden," it read. The government of King William I needed money and decided to sell the Muiderslot. Anyone who thought he still had a destination for the old stones and woodwork could make an offer. The government probably did not expect to earn much from it.
Selling the Muiderslot to the highest bidder for demolition. Even in economically difficult times, such a thing would be completely unthinkable today. But in the eighteenth century, and as the placard shows also at the beginning of the nineteenth century, only an elite circle was aware of the historical value of buildings. Directors had no ancient conscience at all.
Devastation and admiration
In the nineteenth century, that slowly but consciously changed. The turnaround of history as 'something for rich people' and history as something that belongs to everyone and functions as a benchmark for national identity takes place around the year 1800. This is where you will find the beginning of historical awareness, writes Marita Mathijsen in her new book History. About the obsession with the past in the nineteenth century. Although it took years for that realization to sink in everywhere.
At first glance, the French Revolution had little interest in historical awareness. King Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793 and statues of monarchs were knocked down and churches, archives and historic buildings were looted and destroyed throughout France and the occupied territories. The feudal past had to be closed. There was even a whole new calendar that started on September 22, 1792, the first day of the republic.
But while the past was partly destroyed, a cult of remembrance flourished, which manifested itself in national holidays, a new national anthem, national museums and state funerals. The participants in the revolution discovered that they were no longer subservient only to history. They were suddenly part of it. They could cause a revolution and make their own history. The expropriation of the monasteries and the clearance of archives and libraries also had an enormous influence on the revival of historical interest. Suddenly there were books and manuscripts on the market that had never been for sale before.
Templates from the past
Also during our own Batavian Revolution symbols of royal power were broken here and there, especially in Friesland. But because the Netherlands had never had a strong royal family like in France and the symbols of the Catholic Church had already been marginalized during the Iconoclasm (1566), things were much less violent here. But in the Netherlands too, the new rulers used templates from the past. The name of the new country, the Batavian Republic, alone was such a symbol. The heroic Batavians, who cleverly collaborated with the Romans and eventually broke away from them, was the source of Dutch freedom.
In France, moreover, all the archives of the Ancien Régime – insofar as they were not destroyed – publicly, so that everyone could find out everything about their own family history. A National Archivist was also set up in the Netherlands, who had to make an inventory of all the historical information that was hidden in the archives.
Although the most radical ideals of the revolutions were partly reversed after 1813, the new function of history had become a reality. History was no longer 'something of the few, for the few', it belonged to everyone, the common man and the king. Almost everyone had become aware of history. This was expressed in professors of national history at universities, opening up archives and libraries, building museums and setting up monument conservation. Farmers who found the loose stones on their land annoying around 1800, proudly pointed out to others around 1850 that the castle of the lords of Egmond had once stood on their field.
Although the revolutions were a powerful spark for the emergence of historical awareness, this development did not happen overnight. The sale of the Muiderslot in 1825 clearly shows this.
Vondel and Rembrandt
The burgeoning 'historical lust' came from the population itself as well as from its roots in national politics. In the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a different history was required by the state. Typically Dutch symbols could not always exist because the connection between North and South had to be stimulated. That is why King William I appointed a national historian as early as 1815. It had to show that the Northern and Southern Netherlands have been connected from time immemorial.
Each European country was discovering its national past, in which history, literature, monuments and hero worship played an indispensable role. In the Netherlands, Joost van den Vondel was 'discovered' as a literary hero from a golden era. When the Belgians ran off with their national painter Rubens after 1830, Rembrandt was made a national hero in the Netherlands. In 1832, the first Dutch historical novel was also published, following the example of the Scottish writer Walter Scott, albeit decades later. Schiders started painting historical scenes and did their best to make them look grand and interesting. Something that, in view of the realistic painting tradition, was only partially successful in the Netherlands.
All kinds of public museums were supposed to help educate people about the past. As the century progressed, it was virtually impossible for a Dutch citizen to ignore history. A monument appeared on almost every square. Unfortunately, many were removed in the twentieth century. Opened in 1885, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam may well have been the pinnacle of a century overflowing with an obsession with the past like it had never been before.