It is precisely by making this interaction known that you as visitor and we as host discover how related we in fact are. In this way we want to reach out past the limited national borders, and focus on and strengthen the general cultural relationship between the European peoples, and in particular those between your country and our city. We would like to represent here this common experience of history as a whole from a political, economical, religious, social and cultural point of view. Therefore, the emphasis in a chronological review of all these different dimensions of life is always a double one. By means of the broad lines of cultural history, we will try to enliven our historical diary here by painting a picture of the lively contact between individual citizens and visitors.
Small details are often the best way to illustrate how ordinary people interact in daily life.
Behind the dry facts of, for instance, a stay by a fellow-countryman in a certain inn, we can only suspect and ponder on a deeper meeting. This Europe has developed also thanks to the in-spirational and devotional fervour of Christianity. Throughout the centuries Christians have practised the virtue of hospitality intensely and in a varied way. In order to see how christian hospitality has helped to build up Europe, we will first take a look at the source of the Bible. In Jesus' Joyful Message this identification of God with a stranger is taught us as the deepest inspiration for receiving a guest.