ABSTRACT
When Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), the famous theorist of German Romanticism, was searching for the roots of authentic German culture, he maintained that they are to be found in the mountains and rocky hills of the Rhine Valley. Schlegel writes in his travelogue Letters from a Journey through the Netherlands, the Rhine country, Switzerland, and a Part of France (Briefe auf einer Reise durch die Niederlande, Rheingegenden, die Schweiz und einen Teil von Frankreich, 1806), ‘the Germans have always shown so remarkable an inclination for dwelling upon lofty rocks and to prefer to settle exquisitely upon mountains, that it may almost be regarded as an original national characteristic’. 1 Inspired by the rising national feelings during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Schlegel juxtaposed the spectacular views of the Rhine Valley with the monotonous plain of Paris, where he was living during that time. 2 In his view, the differences between French and German culture had a geographical explanation, among others.
