British and European Meanings of Landscape as Heritage, and the Nationalistic Elephant in the Landscape: Opening New Paths to Landscape Heritage Research

Landscape and heritage are inextricably intertwined, and the work of key figures in the founding heritage studies was prefigured by their experience in as landscape researchers. Nevertheless, landscape heritage is an under-researched area of study. Part of the problem is that the primary modern British understanding of landscape is that it is a form of spatial scenery that has its origin in the arts. Landscape, as scenery, thus forms an important stage for the performance of a heritage, and tradition, that is vital to the identity of differing people, and peoples. The Continental European understanding of landscape, on the other hand, is better captured in the definition given in the European Landscape Convention as promulgated by the Council of Europe, in which landscape: “means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the actions and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. This definition thus tends to see the heritage of landscape as lying in the historical and material transformation of society and its environment. This book is important because it exemplifies and problematizes both the British and the Continental European approaches to landscape in relation to heritage, while also suggesting that they may complement one another.