It seems obvious what Europe is… until you try to explain it. In a time when the world stage is shaking on its foundations and collective responses are becoming more urgent, the historian Hans Mulder takes a fresh look at the continent we think we know, as it was in 1600. How did Europeans live, what did they believe in, what divided them and what brought them together? Mulder, who is well-known for books including De ontdekking van de natuur (Jan Wolkers Prijs) and Europa. De zestiende eeuw, combines cultural history with a historian’s sharp insight. He shows how ideas, objects and people travelled, how religion, science and art interacted, and how local phenomena became part of a bigger European story. This kaleidoscopic lecture brings the cultural landscape behind the music of Laus Polyphoniae into sharp focus.
(Dutch spoken lecture)