ITALY

Italian Culture

The culture of Italy can be found in the Roman ruins remaining in much of the country, the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church, the spirit of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and the architecture. It can also be tasted in Italy’s food. Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 43 sites inscribed in the list of UNESCO, as of 2008.

CHINA

China-Great Wall

The Culture of China (traditional Chinese: 中國文化; simplified Chinese: 中国文化; pinyin: Zhongguo wenhua) is one of the world’s oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces. Chinese culture is a broad term used to describe the cultural foundation, even among Chinese-speaking regions outside of mainland China.

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland

Strong regionalism in Switzerland makes it difficult to speak of a homogeneous Swiss culture. The influence of German, French and Italian culture on their neighbouring parts cannot be denied. The Rhaeto-Romanic culture in the eastern mountains of Switzerland is robust.

GERMANY

Germany is often known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers). German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German speaking world.

The country has now firmly shaken off the shadows of its 20th century past, regained a sense of national pride, and breathed a sigh of relief at its new-found ability to express its distinctive national character again.

ENGLAND

The culture of England is sometimes difficult to separate clearly from the cultures of its neighbouringcountries, and to understand how these cultures intermingled and influenced each other.

PARIS

Although usually considered the cradle of French culture, Paris is at heart a multicultural metropolis. Pieces of art found in private galleries or on open-air exhibitions clearly indicate that the colonial past of France and the contemporary immigration boom have left a permanent mark on the cultural consciousness of the city. Various experiences of immigrants from all over the world are inscribed in local art, architecture, food and annual festivals.

TURKEY

Istanbul

The culture of Turkey is diverse, combining elements derived from Ottoman, European and Middle Eastern traditions.

The nation was modernized primarily by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Ashe transformed a religion-driven former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with strong separation of state and religion, a corresponding increase in the methods of artistic expression arose. During the first years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts such as paintings, sculpture and architecture. This was done as both a process of modernisation and of creating a cultural identity.

Because of the different historical factors defining the Turkish identity, the culture of Turkey combines clear efforts to be “modern” and Western, with a desire to maintain traditional religious and historical values.

SPAIN

Valencia, Town Center of Spain

The culture of Spain is an Iberian culture marked by the period of Roman influences. In the areas of language and religion, the Ancient Romans left a lasting legacy. The subsequent course of Spanish history also added elements to the country’s cultural development.

Spain’s culture to some extent. Muslim influences were very strong during the period of 711 A.D. to the 1400s, especially in the area of language. The Spanish language, besides being influenced by Latin, has also borrowed numerous words and accents from Arabic. Spain’s cultural mix became richer during the Middle Ages because of the presence of a large and influential Jewish population. After the defeat of the Muslims and Jews during the Christian “Reconquista” (Reconquest) period between 1000 to 1492, Spain became a Roman Catholic country. In addition, the history of the nation and its Mediterranean and Atlantic environment have played a significant role in shaping its culture.

By the end of the 19th and 20th century, the Spanish government made expressions of cultural diversity easier than it had been for the last seven centuries. This occurred at the same period that Spain became increasingly drawn into a diverse international culture.

NETHERLANDS

Holland

The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.

The Netherlands is a densely populated country. It is popular for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, and in addition, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social tolerance. Being an old parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather modern, liberal policies toward drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, and euthanasia. Its economy is also one of the most free market capitalist in the world, ranking 13th of 157 countries on one index.

BELGIUM

Belgium

A discussion of Belgian culture requires discussing both those aspects of cultural life shared by ‘all’ or most of the Belgians, regardless of what language they speak, and also, the differences between the main cultural communities, the Flemish people from Flanders and Brussels and the French-speakers from Brussels and Wallonia.

Most Belgians tend to view their culture as an integral part of European culture or Western culture; nevertheless, both main communities tend to make their thousands of individual and collective cultural choices mainly from within their own community, and then, when going beyond, the Flemish draw intensively from both the English-speaking culture (which dominates sciences, professional life and most news media) and the Netherlands, whereas French-speakers focus on cultural life in Paris and elsewhere in the French-speaking world (la Francophonie), and less outside. A truly scientific discussion would also include discussion of the different cultures of Belgian ethnic minorities such as the Jews who have formed a remarkable component of Flemish culture – in particular that of Antwerp for over five hundred years.