En oplevelse af oplysning: fornuft og følelse i erindringen om Dybbøl og 1864

At the historical battlefield of Dybbøl in southern Denmark, the Danish defeat at the hands of the Prussian army in 1864 is commemorated. Focusing on visitors’ practice at two widely different institutions devoted to the telling of the Dybbøl story, the article analyses the relationship between rational enlightenment and sensuous experience in the interpretation of war heritage. Scott Lash’s idea of a ‘second modernity’ is utilised in criticising a conventional and narrow concep- tion of modernity characteristic of much museum theory, exemplified here by the work of Tony Bennett. Subscribing, in contrast, to an understanding of modernity which stresses visitors’ sensations and experiences, the article argues that people ap- propriating heritage draw upon reason as well as emotion: visitors demand an ‘ex- perience of enlightenment’.