The role of the manors and estates changed throughout Europe when states with strong feudal roots were transformed into modern welfare states, particularly in the last two hundred years. The period has been characterised by liberal legislation, land reforms, reduced incomes in agriculture, the retreat of the landowning elite, strong industrialization and urbanization, as well as major political upheavals. In Western Europe, marked by a democratic breakthrough, the mansions went from being the private powerhouse of the elite to beginning to be perceived as a common cultural heritage with high aesthetic values, which could be put in the service of popular education. In Eastern Europe’s totalitarian states, land reforms were instead carried out with the dissolution of the estates, which once and for all broke the old nobility’s position of power.
Download the conference programme here:
ENCOUNTER, Julita, Sweden
