Het groot-hertogdom Luxemburg. 180,000 inwoners 1850

Editor: This is "Het groot-hertogdom Luxemburg. 180,000 inwoners," a print by Jan Schuitemaker, created around 1850. It's fascinating to see Luxembourg represented this way. What symbols and deeper meanings do you think this graphic holds? Curator: Well, consider that maps were often much more than geographical tools; they represented power, ownership, and national identity. Look at the juxtaposition of the Grand Duchy's relatively small area against "Belgie" and "Pruissen," or Prussia. What emotions do you read into this comparison of size? Editor: I guess a sense of vulnerability. It is like Luxembourg is being squeezed. The inclusion of the population count – "180,000 Inwoners" – makes it seem even more fragile, humanizes it somehow. Curator: Exactly. Numbers become symbolic here, underscoring anxieties about autonomy. Consider, too, the romanticized vignettes beneath the map: idyllic landscapes. Why frame the nation’s identity with idealized landscapes of bridges, waterfalls, and cities? What specific feelings might that have conjured for the audience then? Editor: A feeling of pride, maybe? Or perhaps nostalgia? The landscape scenes, they provide a certain ideal or aspiration that Luxembourg treasures these places. Curator: Precisely. This print also acts as a form of propaganda or cultural messaging, highlighting unique aspects and projecting a distinct image onto the national consciousness, in a way constructing collective memories through specific imagery and associated sentiments. I think this was to distinguish it among more powerful states. Editor: That makes a lot of sense. I hadn’t thought about the emotional weight embedded within these kinds of maps. Now, seeing the map surrounded by vignettes like a collective memory palace. It really emphasizes the human element, both statistically and emotionally. Curator: Indeed! A convergence of cultural symbols that offers a profound understanding of Luxembourg's self-perception and ambitions back then.