This special issue of Textus intends to open up debate on the ways in which the idea of cultural heritage has been defined and institutionalised in different historical moments. It shows how this process of definition has contributed to and been derived from the construction of national identities and the contestation of such identities. The volume raise important questions about the ideological role of memory, and confront issues of political choice and ideas about how societies of the future might function, and about the ends and workings of cultural production.