Verering van vernuft

Honouring ingenuity. The growth of a national cult of inventors in the Netherlands after 1800

Inspired by Christine MacLeod’s Heroes of invention, this essay examines the growth of a national cult of inventors in the Netherlands. The author shows that from the 19^th century achievements of Dutch inventors increasingly began to be celebrated in the form of monuments, street naming and laudatory literature. Most of the achievements singled out for commemoration dated from the Late Middle Ages or Early Modern period. In contrast with Britain, the rise of a cult of inventors was not related to the rivalry between rising social classes and traditional elites or between liberal and conservative parties but primarily resulted from the need to redefine national identity in a changed international landscape. Like in Britain, interested local communities and professional associations, supported by local and regional governments, ensured that the cult persisted even when the initial impulse had lost its force.