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Modern tourism can be traced to what was known as the Grand Tour, which was a traditional trip of Europe (especially Germany and Italy) undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, mainly from Western and Northern European countries. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage. Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar trips were made by wealthy young men of Protestant Northern European nations on the Continent, and from the second half of the 18th century some South American, U.S., and other overseas youth joined in. The tradition was extended to include more of the middle class after rail and steamship travel made the journey less of a burden, and Thomas Cook made the "Cook's Tour" a byword. The Grand Tour became a real status symbol for upper classes' students, in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this period, Johann Joachim Winckelmann's theories about supremacy of classic culture became very popular and appreciated in the European academic world. Artists, writers and travellers (such as Goethe) affirmed the supremacy of classic art whose Italy, France, Spain and Portugal are excellent examples. For these reasons, the Grand Tour's main destinations were to those centres, where upper class students could find rare examples of classic art and history. The New York Times recently described the Grand Tour in this way: Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishmen began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of Western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills and mingled with the upper crust of the Continent. —Gross, Matt., "Lessons From the Frugal Grand Tour." New York Times 5 September 2008. The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, laid in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent. |
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