Scandinavian Europe

Politically and militarily powerful, early modern Scandinavia played an essential role in the development of Central European culture from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. In this volume, Kristoffer Neville shows how the cultural ambitions of Denmark and Sweden were inextricably bound to those of other Central European kingdoms. Tracing the visual culture of the Danish and Swedish courts from the Reformation to their eventual decline in the eighteenth century, Neville explains how and why they developed into important artistic centers. He examines major projects by figures largely unknown outside of Northern Europe alongside other, more canonical artists—including Cornelis Floris, Adriaen de Vries, and Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach—to propose a more coherent view of this part of Europe, one that rightly includes Scandinavia as a vital component. The seventeenth century has long seemed a bleak moment in Central European culture. Neville’s authoritative and unprecedented study does much to change this perception, showing that the arts did not die in the Reformation and Thirty Years’ War but rather flourished in the Baltic region.

Set sail and dive into Europe's magnificent port cities with Rick Steves Scandinavian & Northern European Cruise Ports! Inside you'll find: Rick's expert advice on making the most of your time on a cruise and fully experiencing each city, with thorough coverage of 18 ports of call Practical travel strategies including how to choose and book your cruise, adjusting to life on board on the ship, saving money, and traveling economically and ethically Self-guided walks and tours of each port city so you can hit the best attractions, sample authentic cuisine, and get to know the culture, even with a short amount of time Essential logistics including step-by-step instructions for arriving at each terminal, getting into town, and finding necessary services like ATMs and pharmacies Rick's reliable tips and candid advice on how to beat the crowds, skip lines, and avoid tourist traps Helpful reference photos throughout and full-color maps of each city Useful tools like mini-phrasebooks, detailed instructions for any visa requirements, hotel and airport recommendations for cruise access cities, and what to do if you miss your ship Full list of coverage: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, the Port of Gdynia, Gdansk, Sopot, Warnermunde, Rostock, Berlin, Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, the Norwegian Fjords, Flam and the Nutshell, Geirangerfjord, Amsterdam, the Port of Zeebrugge, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover, Canterbury, London, Le Havre, Honfleur, the D-Day Beaches, Rouen, Paris Maximize your time and savor every moment with Rick's practical tips, thoughtful advice, and reliable expertise. Heading to the Mediterranean? Pick up Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports.

Are you online and ready for global smart card and database genealogy for virtual travelers? Here's how to search family history for nations bordering the Baltic Sea, the Balkans countries, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. The nations listed in this guide (all faiths) include Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Armenia, Assyria, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, and many other lands in the Middle East, the Balkans-Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Eastern Europe-Hungary, and more. Collecting details about people is moving toward smart card technology and its offspring. The new wave in genealogy is authentication technology. Authentication begins with new-wave technology used to gather population registers. Compare the new technology to the old method of door-to-door census taking, tombstone tracings, and city directory publishing. No, genealogists are not using smart cards this year, but smart card technology is being used to compile population registers in Europe. The future holds a new wave of technology used for authentication for banking transactions being applied to other areas. Currently this technology is used for collecting details for population registrars such as census taking. The application for research is of interest to family historians, librarians, and governments. It's already in use by private industry for electronic authentication. Family history is now about intelligent connections, whether it's a population registrar, census detail, or electronic identity for banking. Smart card genealogy began in 1998 in Finland with governments seeking to put census and population registers in an electronic form that would be available to researchers, and these applications are going global.

Relevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons reveals how various cultural processes have influenced what has been included, and what has been marginalised from canons of European music, dance, and theatre around the turn of the nineteenth century and the following decades. This collection of essays includes discussion of the piano repertory for young ladies in England; canonisation of the French minuet; marginalisation of the popular German dramatist Kotzebue from the dramatic canon; dance repertory and social life in Christiania (Oslo); informal cultural activities in Trondheim; repertory of Norwegian musical clocks; female itinerant performers in the Nordic sphere; preconditions, dissemination, and popularity of equestrian drama; marginalisation and amateur staging of a Singspiel by the renowned Danish playwright Oehlenschläger, also with perspectives on the music and its composers; and the perceived relevance of Henrik Ibsen’s staged theatre repertory and early dramas. By questioning established notions about canon, marginalisation, and relevance within the performing arts in the period 1770–1860, this book asserts itself as an intriguing text both to the culturally interested public and to scholars and students of musicology, dance research, and theatre studies.

Covering Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and more, this concise guide reveals the natural wonders and cultural frontiers of these countries with, transport options from motorcycling to Finnish ferry-hopping.

An updated edition of the definitive history of Scandinavia over the past five centuries Despite certain distinctions and differences, the lands of Scandinavia, or Norden—Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands—are united by bonds of culture, language, and geography, and by a shared history that comes richly to life in this landmark work. Now in an expanded, updated edition, this authoritative chronicle of five centuries of Scandinavian history incorporates the geopolitical developments and momentous events that have marked the Nordic world in recent decades. Scandinavia since 1500 situates the region’s political history within the traditional European chronology—in which the long “modern” period is subdivided into the Renaissance, early modern, modern, and contemporary. Within this framework, Byron J. Nordstrom traces the various ways in which economic, social, and cultural ideas and practices have come to Scandinavia from abroad, only to be modified and recast in a uniquely Nordic character. Long-unquestioned national mythologies come under Nordstrom's scrutiny, along with historical blind spots and erasures, as he ranges from canonical figures like Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Christian IV of Denmark to the constitutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the resistance movements in World War II, and the Scandinavian welfare states, literary culture, and modern design. Expanded to include the nature and realities of the increasingly postindustrial economies of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—including environmental concerns, integration with Europe, globalization, and immigration—Scandinavia since 1500 offers a comprehensive yet nuanced portrait of this unique region in all its political, diplomatic, social, economic, and cultural complexity. Cover alt text: Bold white title and author name across breathtaking snowy landscape of sun-touched cliffs beside a waterway and scattering of homes.

ISBN 9042003170 (paperback) NLG 60.00 From the contents: Scandinavian or Nordic? (Egil Tornqvist).- The position of the Scandinavian languages in a unified Europe (Harry Perridon).- East is east and west is west: on the cultural identity of the Finns (Paivi Schot-Saikku).- Echoes from the North in the heart of Europe: public and published opinion about Scandinavia in Belgium (Godelieve Laureys and Michael Maertens).

The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics is a comprehensive overview of Scandinavian politics provided by leading experts in the field and covering the polity, the politics and the policy of Scandinavia. Coherently structured with a multi-level thematic approach, it explains and details Scandinavian politics today through a series of cutting-edge chapters. It will be a key reference point both for advanced-level students developing knowledge about the subject, as well as researchers producing new material in the area and beyond. It brings geographical scope and depth, with comparative chapters contributed by experts across the region. Methodologically and theoretically pluralistic, the handbook is in itself a reflection of the field of political science in Scandinavia and the diversity of the issues covered in the volume. The Routledge Handbook of Scandinavian Politics will be an essential reference for scholars, students, researchers and practitioners interested and working in the fields of Scandinavian politics, European politics, comparative politics and international relations.