摘要：Mini-Europe – a theme park in Brussels, morally supported by the European Commission and the EuropeanParliament – consists of around 350 models of different buildings and heritage sites from all the memberstates of the EU. In addition, the park includes an exhibition named the Spirit of Europe. The article exploreshow the European cultural identity is constructed and ‘sold’ in Mini-Europe and how history, geography andlocal and regional traditions are intertwined into a politics of cultural marking, an ideology of Europeanintegration and a creation of shared symbols. European cultural identity has often been generated throughappeals to an ancient or classical past, which is produced by stressing certain themes or areas of Europe.Representing these ‘parts’ as common European culture is a profoundly exclusive strategy: heritage of aparticular temporal or spatial unit is narrated as shared by the contemporary citizens in Europe. Mini-Europecan be interpreted as an indication of this kind of pan-Europeanist ideology. In addition, in Mini-Europe theEuropean culture and identity is represented through signs, which do not refer to Europeanness as suchbut function as signifiers of famous tourist attractions of particular member-states in the EU.
