Monument

A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical, political, technical or architectural importance. Some of the first monuments were dolmens or menhirs, megalithic constructions built for religious or funerary purposes.^[1] Examples of monuments include statues, (war) memorials, historical buildings, archaeological sites, and cultural assets. If there is a public interest in its preservation, a monument can for example be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[2] The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict gives the next definition of monument:

Monuments result from social practices of construction or conservation of material artifacts through which the ideology of their promoters is manifested. The concept of the modern monument emerged with the development of capital and the nation-state in the fifteenth century when the ruling classes began to build and conserve what were termed monuments. These practices proliferated significantly in the nineteenth century, creating the ideological frameworks for their conservation as a universal humanist duty. The twentieth century has marked a movement toward some monuments being conceived as cultural heritage in the form of remains to be preserved, and concerning commemorative monuments, there has been a shift toward the abstract counter monument. In both cases, their conflictive nature is explicit in the need for their conservation, given that a fundamental component of state action following the construction or declaration of monuments is litigating vandalism and iconoclasm. However, not all monuments represent the interests of nation-states and the ruling classes; their forms are also employed beyond Western borders and by social movements as part of subversive practices which use monuments as a means of expression, where forms previously exclusive to European elites are used by new social groups or for generating anti-monumental artifacts that directly challenge the state and the ruling classes. In conflicts, therefore, it is not so much the monument which is relevant but rather what happens to the communities that participate in its construction or destruction and their instigation of forms of social interaction.^[3]

Etymology

The word "monument" comes from the Latin "monumentum", derived from the word moneo, monere, which means 'to remind' or 'to warn', suggesting a monument allows us to see the past thus helping us visualize what is to come in the future.

Monuments are frequently used to improve the appearance of a city or location. Planned cities such as Washington, D.C., New Delhi and Brasília are often built around monuments. For example, the Washington Monument's location was conceived by L'Enfant to help organize public space in the city, before it was designed or constructed. Older cities have monuments placed at locations that are already important or are sometimes redesigned to focus on one. As Shelley suggested in his famous poem "Ozymandias" ("Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"), the purpose of monuments is very often to impress or awe.

Structures created for other purposes that have been made notable by their age, size or historic significance may also be regarded as monuments. This can happen because of great age and size, as in the case of the

Monuments are also often designed to convey historical or political information, and they can thus develop an active socio-political potency. They can be used to reinforce the primacy of contemporary political power, such as the

While many ancient monuments still exist today, there are notable incidents of monuments being intentionally or accidentally destroyed and many monuments are likely to have disappeared through the passage of time and natural forces such as erosion. In 772 during the Saxon Wars, Charlemagne intentionally destroyed an Irminsul monument^[7] in order to desecrate the pagan religion. In 1687 the Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed by a Venetian mortar round, which set off the store of gunpowder kept there by the Turkish defenders.^[8]

A recent archeological dig in central France uncovered the remains of a Megalithic monument that had been previously destroyed "Like some monuments, including Belz in Morbihan, the menhirs of Veyre-Monton were knocked down in order to make them disappear from the landscape. Pushed into large pits, sometimes mutilated or covered with earth, these monoliths have been destroyed. 'object of iconoclastic gestures, a sort of condemnation perhaps linked to some change of community or beliefs "^[9][10]

Protection and preservation

The term is often used to describe any structure that is a significant and legally protected historic work, and many countries have equivalents of what is called in

Until recently, it was customary for

Other than municipal or national government that protecting the monuments in their jurisdiction, there are institutions dedicated on the efforts to protect and preserve monuments that considered to possess special natural or cultural significance for the world, such as UNESCO's World Heritage Site programme^[11] and World Monuments Fund.^[2]

Cultural monuments are also considered to be the memory of a community and are therefore particularly at risk in the context of modern asymmetrical warfare. The enemy's cultural heritage is to be sustainably damaged or even destroyed. In addition to the national protection of cultural monuments, international organizations (cf.

Recently, more and more monuments are being preserved digitally (in 3D models) through organisations as CyArk.^[16]

Types

• Benchmarks placed by a government agency or private survey firm.
• tallest building in the United States
  , built to memorialize the attack on September 11.
• Vimy Ridge Memorial, or disaster casualties, such as the Titanic Memorial, Belfast
  .
• Church monuments to commemorate the faithful dead, located above or near their grave, often featuring an effigy, e.g., St. Peter's Basilica or the medieval church Sta Maria di Collemaggio
  in L'Aquila.
• Columns, often topped with a statue, e.g., Berlin Victory Column, Nelson's Column in London, and Trajan's Column in Rome.
• president of the United States, George Washington, is the world's tallest obelisk
  .

• Fountains, water-pouring structures usually placed in formal gardens or town squares, e.g., Fontaines de la Concorde and Gardens of Versailles.
• Gravestones, small monuments to the deceased, placed at their gravesites, e.g., the tombs and vaults of veterans in Les Invalides and Srebrenica Genocide Memorial.
• Mausoleums and tombs to honor the dead, e.g., the Great Pyramid of Giza, Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga and Taj Mahal.
• Monoliths erected for religious or commemorative purposes, e.g., Stonehenge.
• Mosque of the Prophet
  .
• Mounds erected to commemorate great leaders or events, e.g., Kościuszko Mound.
• Cleopatra's Needle in London, the National Monument ("Monas") in Central Jakarta, and the Washington Monument
  in Washington, D.C.
• Schwerin Palace
  in Schwerin.
• Searchlights to project a powerful beam of light, e.g., Tribute in Light in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001.
• Niederwalddenkmal (Germania) in Hesse, Liberty Enlightening the World (commonly known as the Statue of Liberty) in New York City, and The Motherland Calls
  in Volgograd.
• Temples or religious structures built for pilgrimage, ritual or commemorative purposes, e.g., Borobudur in Magelang and Kaaba in Mecca.
• Opera Garnier
  in Paris.
• Triumphal arches, almost always to commemorate military successes, e.g., the Arch of Constantine in Rome and Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile in Paris.
• St Avold,^[17] and the Soviet War Memorial
  in Berlin.

• 
  Victoria monument in London, a memorial to Queen Victoria of the British Empire
• 
  El Ángel national monument built to commemorate the independence of Mexico
• 
  The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), the symbol of the United States' freedom
• 
  The

  Maqam Echahid, in Algiers, iconic concrete monument commemorating the Algerian war for independence
• 
  The Eiffel Tower, in Paris, a monument commemorating the French Revolution for its centenary
• 
  Persian Empire and the history of Iran
• 
  Lenin mausoleum in Moscow, an enduring symbol of Soviet Union Communism and Cold War
• 
  Chairman Mao Memorial Hall is located on the Tiananmen Square, where the Beijing Gate of China used to stand
• 
  Kościuszko Mound, Poland commemorates Tadeusz Kościuszko
• 
  The

  Brantford, Ontario
• 
  The Hiroshima Cenotaph and Atomic Bomb Dome to remember the victims of August 6, 1945 atomic bombing
• 
  The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors American President Abraham Lincoln

See also

• Antiquities Act
• English Heritage Archive
  , holds data on England's monuments
• Memorial
• Monumental sculpture
• National memorial
• National monument

References

Further reading

• Chaney, Edward. 'Egypt in England and America: The Cultural Memorials of Religion, Royalty and Revolution', Sites of Exchange: European Crossroads and Faultines, ed. M. Ascari and A. Corrado, Amsterdam & New York, Rodopi, 2006, 39–6.
• Choay, Françoise (2001). The invention of the historic monument. Cambridge University Press.
• Gangopadhyay, Subinoy (2002). Testimony of Stone : Monuments of India. Dasgupta & Co.
• Phillips, Cynthia; Priwer, Shana (2008). Ancient Monuments. M E Sharpe Reference.
• Stierlin, Henri (2005). Great monuments of the ancient world. Thames & Hudson.
• ISBN 978-1-4000-6582-0

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Monuments.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monuments and memorials.

Look up monument in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Website of Monuments and Sculptures in UK
• Monuments of India at kamat.com
• Pictures and Articles of Monuments from around the world
• Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina