PRESS RELEASE
DA VINCI, DON QUIXOTE AND DEMOCRACY: THE
RESULTS OF THE EUROPE LIST ARE HERE
Over 22,000 people voted online and now we know that Leonardo da Vinci is
considered the most important European artist, Don Quixote the most poignant
figure in European literature and that Europe’s greatest contribution to world
culture is democracy. This is what the Europe List, a survey conducted by the
Goethe-Institut in 24 languages in 30 countries, has discovered. In the next few
weeks artists and intellectuals such as Umberto Eco, Terezia Mora and Slavoj Žižek
will comment on the results and discuss their own personal European cultural
canon.
28th June 2013
What unites us as Europeans? Despite the financial crisis and bailout discussions, most
people responded to the question “What does Europe mean to you?” with the answer
“culture”, with many also saying “community” and “freedom to travel”. Europe’s most
meaningful contribution to world culture by a narrow margin is democracy, very closely
followed by classical music and the printing press. The Declaration of Human Rights got
the highest French vote, and for Italians it was art.
And what were the results of the European culture leaderboard? The question of what
the most important building in Europe is received many different answers depending on
nationality: overall the Eiffel Tower came top (25%), but for the majority of Greeks the
Acropolis is the most important. Italians believe the Colloseum is the most meaningful,
whereas French chose the Brandenburg Gate. A European film canon was even more
difficult to define. The three greatest European films according to the participants are
Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni (8%), The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von
Donnersmarck (6%) and Amelie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (5%).
When asked who the most moving literary figure in European literature is, Cervantes’
anti-hero Don Quixote won with 8% of the responses. In the Baltics there was a clear
preference for the heroes of children’s literature: Estonians named Pippi Longstocking as
their favourite, while Latvians chose Winnie the Pooh. The participants of the survey
elected Leonardo da Vinci (25%) as the most meaningful European artist, with Picasso
coming second place with (11%). Interestingly, Spanish participants voted the Italian da
Vinci in first place. The most important Dutch artist was Van Gogh, but Dutch themselves
had Rembrandt as their top answer.
In first and second place on the leaderboard for the most important politicians in Europe
came Angela Merkel with 18% and Winston Churchill with 14%. The German results
placed Merkel (15%) with Willy Brandt closely behind (14%). French chose de Gaulle
(20%), and Turkish chose Atatürk (10%).
On the subject of Europe’s greatest sports person, 72% of the participating Serbians
voted for the leading tennis player in the men’s’ world ranking Novak Đoković. Thanks to
this, he took first place with 10% of the total answers, followed by Michael Schumacher
(7%) and Roger Federer (6%). Germans chose Steffi Graf as the most important sports
person, closely followed by Schumacher and Beckenbauer.
According to 42% of the surveyed participants, the best European cuisine can be found
in Italy. Participants from some countries believe however, that their own cuisine is
better – the majority of Portuguese, Spanish, French and Greek people prefer eating ‘at
home’.
And how important is Europe to individuals? It seems to be very relevant, with 43% of
the participants saying that they would describe themselves as “Full-blooded European”,
or “Very European” (37%). The most convinced “Full-blooded Europeans” are the French
with 74%. Also, the majority of participants from Portugal, Denmark, Holland and
Hungary, and almost half of the Germans, consider themselves to be full-blooded
Europeans.
CONTACT
Viola Noll
Press Contact
Goethe-Institut
Head Office
Tel.: +49 30 25906-471
[email protected]
Sabine Willig
Communications
(Europe List)
Goethe-Institut
Head Office
Tel.: +49 30 25906-545
[email protected]
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The majority of participants see Europe’s future as being “good” or “very good”.
Especially optimistic are the Lithuanians, Bulgarians and Serbians. The majority of
Germans also view Europe’s future positively (51% “good”, 8% “very good”). It’s not very
surprising to see that those severely affected by the financial crisis view Europe’s future
differently: the majority of the Spanish participants answered that they see Europe’s
future as “so so” or even “bad” (54% and 19%), and the majority of Portuguese, Greeks
and Italians gave the same answers. The least optimistic are Hungarians (48% “so so”,
27% “bad”). French, Dutch and Belgians are also sceptical.
Most of the 22,235 completed surveys came from Germany (15.2%), Serbia (9%), Italy
(8.6%), France (7.7%), Hungary (6.6%) and Poland (5.7%). The majority of the participants
(51.5%) are between 20 and 40 years old. Almost 26% of the participants answered the
survey in German.
The aim of this initiative is to refuel the discussion on European identity. The results of
the online survey, in which 22,235 people in and around Europe took part, will be
commented on by prominent European personalities in DIE WELT and on
Deutschlandradio Kultur in the form of audio segments, interviews and essays, including
Umberto Eco, Terezia Mora, Slavoj Žižek, Petros Markaris, Martje Wortel, and many more.
The Europe List ties in with the Germany List from 2011 where 18,000 people in 18
European countries took part.
The Europe List is a Goethe-Institut project. Media partners are DIE WELT and
Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Further information:
www.goethe.de/europaliste
www.dradio.de/dkultur
www.welt.de