The Father on Display: The House of Jean Monnet and the Construction of European Identity

Abstract

In the 1980s, the EC engaged in trying actively to construct a European identity, primarily through a ’manufacturing of symbols’, such as a common flag, hymn and day of celebration. A lesser-known element of this symbolic construction was the elevation of the recently deceased Jean Monnet to a position as the undisputed ’founding father’ of Europe. The ’sanctification’ of Monnet culminated in the con-version of his house – purchased by the European Parliament – into a museum of his deeds and of the European project that they served. This article seeks to analyse the construction of Monnet as a founding father for Europé, first by investi-gating the context of the acquisition of his house and the establishment of the mu-seum in the 1980s, and subsequently by analysing the present exhibition in it.