A History of Archaeological Tourism: Pursuing Leisure and Knowledge From the Eighteenth Century to World War II

Margarita Díaz-Andreu’s short book explores the close interconnection between travel, tourism, archaeology, and modern nation-building in a succinct, but deeply researched and intelligently presented overview. In just over 120 pages (as part of the Springer Briefs series), the author shows how an interest in the material past has always played a major role in travelling. Defining archaeological tourism as a ‘leisure activity consisting of experiencing the past by visiting either archaeological sites or institutions with information about them’ (p. 5), Díaz-Andreu mainly leaves other kinds of travelling—military, mercantile, diplomatic, religious, exploratory — outside of the discussion. Archaeological exploration has at times been inextricably linked to exactly these kinds of travelling and the lack of discussion occasionally makes for awkward reading. But, on the whole, this distinction serves the reader well in focusing the mind on the pursuit of leisure and knowledge through experiencing the past and the resulting commodification of history and material culture. Chapter 1 lays the groundwork by providing a useful overview of recent developments in scholarship of archaeological tourism. It continues with a history of tourism studies, from its beginnings in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the early twentieth century. The close connection pointed out between authoritarian and racist regimes of the 1920s and 1930s and their support of tourism studies and leisure activities in general lays important groundwork for later chapters. Taking the reader ‘from travel to tourism’ in Chapter 2, Díaz-Andreu charts a course from the earliest human impulse to travel, from antiquity and the Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century and the Grand Tour. By defining the difference between migrations, travelling, and tourism, the author closely links the latter two to the exploration of visible remains of the past (monuments and ruins) and the growing European interest in building collections of smaller objects. Although the book focuses on the Western European experience, we also read about Chinese and Arab travellers. Chapter 3 introduces the early years of archaeological tourism, from 1800 to 1870. Archaeological travellers and tourists were never just interested in the past as experienced abroad. The development of nationalism and patriotism led to an interest in material remains at home and how they might serve to create a ‘national’ history. Díaz-Andreu neatly links these developments to the arrival of mechanized travel, the rise of the middle classes and industrialization as well as a slowly developing professionalization in the study and management of heritage. As travels on the Continent became restricted due to the Napoleonic Wars, Britons focused more on exploring the British Isles and the Grand Tour began to lose its importance. As I have mentioned above, the short brief of the book has forced the author to make some omissions to the narrative. While Napoleon Bonaparte’s looting of Italian artworks is explored in the context of the creation of the Louvre and incipient antiquities legislation, his short-lived conquest of Egypt finds no mention. The effect this had on Egyptian archaeology as a practice, competitive British and French imperial and colonial politics, and the public archaeology, Vol. 18 No. 2, May 2019, 135–136