Germany: Pimping out our cultural heritage

last updated 8 January 2015

Dieter Bartetzko

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Let’s not be too quick to mock Greece, said Dieter Bartetzko. When the Greek government announced that it would start renting out the Acropolis for advertising and events and allowing commercials to be filmed at other ancient monuments, European culture vultures were horrified. But at least the Greeks have a good reason: They’re bankrupt. Meanwhile, other European countries—including Germany, which is relatively flush—are also “hawking their heritage.” What’s their excuse? Austria converted several palaces into a vast tourist attraction billed as “the museum world’s answer to the shopping mall.” Italy has opened up Pompeii’s ancient theater—cramming it with new seats and probably damaging it in the process—so it can charge tourists to watch plays and concerts there. And several German towns have cashed in. Xanten has exploited its ancient Roman core, creating “an open-air museum where waiters in antique costume serve visitors ancient cuisine in reconstructed baths.” Dresden rebuilt the bombed-out Kurländer Palace as an “event location” that you can rent out for weddings or corporate retreats. The Greeks, it turns out, are just doing out of necessity what the rest of us have done “out of greed.”