The past is replete with reference points for the formation of group identities. Whether these identities are political, religious, or cultural, appealing to a common legacy or shared experience is meant to promote a sense of cohesion. The panelists in this session will offer a broad historical context for understanding how Europeans have utilized elements of their past to construct new religious, political, and international identities for themselves. Several central issues will guide this discussion: First, we will consider to what ends Europeans have repurposed and repacked their own pasts. How do governments represent the past of the community to perpetuate power? How do communities resurrect past cultural dialogues to secure themselves in their own identity? And how do cultures that have undergone trauma reappropriate elements of their own past to redefine themselves? We will also explore how European peoples and governments have used various tools to resurrect the past in their attempts to construct new identities. The broad chronoligcal timeframe adopted in this panel allows for an examination of the development over time of various tools for and attitudes toward identity-construction, from the scaffold to the art festival. Throughout these divergent experiences, this panel will seek to offer an understanding of how these various strategies were intended to operate. Moreover, the panelists will assess the effectiveness that the methods of dissemination had on the reception of the intended message.