"Europa" was written and originally delivered to a private group of friends in 1799. It was intended for the "Athenaeum"; after it was presented, Schlegel decided not to publish it. It was not published in full until 1826. It is a poetical, cultural-historical speech with a focus on a political utopia with regard to the Middle Ages. In this text Novalis tries to develop a new Europe which is based on a new poetical Christendom which shall lead to unity and freedom. He got the inspiration for this text from a book written by Schleiermacher, "Über die Religion" ("On Religion"). The work was a response to the French Revolution and its implications for the French enlightenment, which Novalis saw as catastrophic. It anticipated, then, the growing German and Romantic critiques of the then-current enlightenment ideologies in the search for a new European spirituality and unity.