At the beginning of the 21st century there is a need to redefine the symbolic borders of Europe. It is a time when the processes of the policy of integration and the expansion of the EU have been accompanied by successive internal crises. Furthermore, the fundamental values of unity and solidarity on which the supranational European community has been built are showing signs of weakening in the face of the particular interests of member states. It is in this manner that Europe and the wider world, the end of whose history was announced some time ago, are gradually changing. At the same time, the rate of change in this history is gathering speed and rumours of its demise seem to have been exaggerated.

It is in this context that considerable attention is being focused on the common, supranational heritage of Europe and the role that it may play in redefining the self-image of Europe in a time of change. In the face of the fundamental political, social and cultural shifts that are taking place within the borders of Europe, one may justifiably ask about the essence of Europe with its axiological foundations and identity. These questions have led to concrete initiatives and cultural policies in the EU whose aim is to make Europeans more aware of our common history and heritage. In this respect, reflections on the national lieux de mémoire which are undergoing the process of Europeanization would seem to be justified. One might put a hypothesis that they reveal the changes that these lieux are undergoing when they are interpreted according to a European frame of reference. National and local interpretations continue to function but they are being accompanied by others – for example European – which are often broader than or define the community differently to those who consider them to be their inheritors.

Such reflections on the processes of Europeanization focus on the delicate and often difficult material which is used in historical narratives and collective memory. They have their own dual nature which are shaped by top-down, often strongly institutionalized initiatives with their local applications, actors and goals. In this respect, research on the Europeanization of memory and the construction of a common European heritage has two dimensions. The first concerns the institutionalized instruments which the EU uses in terms of defining, protecting and exploiting heritage in the process of building a cosmopolitan European community.