Moving Forward Into the Past: The Role of the Belvedere Museum in the Construction and Representation of Austrian Identity

Abstract

Overall, the national museum uses cultural representations to produce a selective view of the country's history and alters a community's historical consciousness. Yet in the long-term development of pluralistic, national identities, an easily recognizable heritage product is unsatisfactory for visitors. Indeed, the Belvedere carries ideas of inequalities. Hence, it is important that the Belvedere Museum adjusts to the social realities, unmasks institutionalized narratives, and allows for the multiple ways of relating to the past necessary to nurture Austrian self-understanding, come to terms with the past, and renegotiate identities.