This book presents critical studies of modern reconfigurations of conceptions of the past of
the 'classical' and of national heritage. Its scope is global (China India Egypt Iran
Judaism the Greco-Roman world) and inter-disciplinary (textual philology history of art and
architecture philosophy gardening). Its emphasis is on the complexity of the modernization
process and of reactions to it: ideas and technologies travelled from India to Iran and from
Japan to China while reactions show tensions between museumization and the recreation of
'presence'. It challenges readers to rethink the assumptions of the disciplines in which they
were trained
