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33-635: The Bigelow Monument is a public monument in Worcester , Massachusetts , United States . The monument, located in a small cemetery at the center of Worcester Common , honors Timothy Bigelow , a Patriot during the American Revolutionary War . The monument was dedicated on April 19, 1861, the 86th anniversary of the start of the war. Timothy Bigelow was born in Worcester County, Massachusetts , on August 12, 1739. As an adult, he worked as

66-599: A blacksmith and owned a shop in Worcester . During the American Revolution , he was a Patriot , and He served as a colonel during the American Revolutionary War . He commanded the 15th Massachusetts Regiment and is notable for leading minutemen from Worcester during the Battles of Lexington and Concord , the first military engagement of the war. He was also involved in the Saratoga campaign and Valley Forge . Following

99-486: A 1914 book as one of the largest gatherings in the city, was attended by numerous descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers. The celebrations included a song, written by Clark Jillson , performed by a local glee club , followed by speeches given by several notable individuals. Among these included Lawrence, Mayor Davis, Governor Lincoln, Benjamin Thomas (grandson of Bigelow's contemporary Isaiah Thomas ), and several members of

132-443: A 20 square feet (1.9 m) lot in the small cemetery in the commons for the monument. A committee was formed for the purposes of coordinating the monument's erection and dedication, and a group of prominent citizens organized to aid the committee, with former Massachusetts Governor Levi Lincoln Jr. as their chairman . In March 1861, the committee extended an invitation to Worcester native George Bancroft to give an oration at

165-590: A monument allows us to see the past thus helping us visualize what is to come in the future. In English the word "monumental" is often used in reference to something of extraordinary size and power, as in monumental sculpture , but also to mean simply anything made to commemorate the dead, as a funerary monument or other example of funerary art . A formalist interpretation of monuments suggests their origins date back to antiquity and even prehistory. Archaeologists like Gordon Childe viewed ancient monuments as symbols of power. Historians such as Lewis Mumford proposed that

198-569: A monument needs to be open to the public, which means that its spatial dimension, as well as its content can be experienced by the public, and be sustainable. The former may be achieved either by situating the monument in public space or by a public discussion about the monument and its meaning, the latter by the materiality of the monument or if its content immediately becomes part of the collective or cultural memory. The social meanings of monuments are rarely fixed and certain and are frequently 'contested' by different social groups. As an example: whilst

231-404: 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

264-415: Is built primarily of Italian marble, is English Gothic . The monument's pedestal is four-sided, with carvings of ram 's heads on each angle, with the following inscriptions on each face of the pedestal: TIMOTHY BIGELOW Born Aug. 12, 1739 Died March 31, 1790 Quebec Monmouth Saratoga Verplanck's Point Valley Forge Yorktown In memory of The Colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment Of

297-436: 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

330-465: 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 United Kingdom legislation a Scheduled Monument , which often include relatively recent buildings constructed for residential or industrial purposes, with no thought at the time that they would come to be regarded as "monuments". Until recently, it

363-402: Is to be sustainably damaged or even destroyed. In addition to the national protection of cultural monuments, international organizations (cf. UNESCO World Heritage , Blue Shield International ) therefore try to protect cultural monuments. Recently, more and more monuments are being preserved digitally (in 3D models) through organisations as CyArk . Massachusetts militia This

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396-648: The Soldiers' Monument . Coincidentally, the Soldiers' Monument was accepted by Mayor Edward Livingston Davis, son of the mayor who had accepted the Bigelow Monument. In 1994, the monument was assessed as part of the Save Outdoor Sculpture! project. On Mother's Day in 2009, a military drill and wreath laying ceremony was held at the monument, with historian and author Ray Raphael presenting. The plot of land

429-588: The marble , imported from Tuscany , was executed by Wentworth and Co. of Boston. The monument's dedication ceremony took place on April 19, 1861. On the Friday before the dedication (April 12) Mayor Isaac Davis and Governor Lincoln held a ceremony wherein multiple items were deposited within the monument, including multiple publications, a piece of wood from the Charter Oak , and a lock of hair belonging to Bigelow, among other items. The dedication ceremony, described in

462-666: The Bigelow family. While the dedication was taking place, members of the Massachusetts militia were involved in violent confrontations in the Baltimore riot of 1861 , one of the first civil conflicts of the American Civil War . News of the violence would not reach Worcester until after the ceremony had concluded. An 1889 history book on Worcester County lists the Bigelow Monument as one of only two memorials on Worcester Common, along with

495-508: The Continental Army In the War of Independence, This monument Is erected by his great-grandson, Timothy Bigelow Lawrence, Anno Domini 1861. Above the pedestal, the four sides of the monument features carved canopies, atop which the monument becomes octagonal. According to a commemorative program published shortly after the dedication, the monument was topped with a foliated cross, with

528-635: The case of the Great Wall of China , or because an event of great importance occurred there such as the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France . Many countries use ' ancient monument ' or similar terms for the official designation of protected structures or archeological sites which may originally have been ordinary domestic houses or other buildings. 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

561-477: The debate touches on the social mechanisms that combine with Remembrance. These are acceptance of the monument as an object, the conveyed contents and the impact of these contents. 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

594-542: The distinction between these views: "The historic monument is a precisely datable invention of the West... exported and diffused beyond Europe from the late nineteenth century." Basically, the definition framework of the term monument depends on the current historical frame conditions. Aspects of the Culture of Remembrance and cultural memory are also linked to it, as well as questions about the concepts of public sphere and durability (of

627-603: The former East German socialist state may have seen the Berlin Wall as a means of 'protection' from the ideological impurity of the west, dissidents and others would often argue that it was symbolic of the inherent repression and paranoia of that state. This contention of meaning is a central theme of modern 'post processual' archaeological discourse. 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

660-439: 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

693-412: The monument occupies is surrounded by an iron fence, with the monument itself resting on a square granite platform with sides of 9 feet (2.7 m). The square base of the monument has sides measuring approximately 81 inches (2.1 m). A time capsule is buried underneath the monument that contains documents regarding Bigelow and life in the colonial era. The architectural style of the monument, which

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726-470: The monument's dedication, but he declined, citing his health. As part of the erection of the monument, Bigelow's body was exhumed and reinterred in a metallic casket . The monument itself was designed by George Snell , an architect from Boston . Two companies were involved in the construction of the monument, with the Granite Railway Company executing the granite portion of the monument and

759-471: 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 and World Monuments Fund . 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

792-404: The one memorized) and the form and content of the monument (work-like monument). From an art historical point of view, the dichotomy of content and form opens up the problem of the "linguistic ability" of the monument. It becomes clear that language is an eminent part of a monument and it is often represented in "non-objective" or "architectural monuments", at least with a plaque. In this connection,

825-615: The passage of time and natural forces such as erosion. In 772 during the Saxon Wars , Charlemagne intentionally destroyed an Irminsul monument 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. A recent archeological dig in central France uncovered

858-591: The practice began with Paleolithic landmarks, which served as sites for communication with ancestral spirits. However, these perspectives often project modern uses of monuments onto ancient structures. In art history, monuments are seen as significant sculptural forms; in architecture and urban planning, they are crucial for city organization and mapping. These contemporary interpretations have been retroactively applied to ancient and non-Western structures. This modern concept of monuments aligns with how past constructions are labeled as monuments today. Françóise Choay highlights

891-676: The primacy of contemporary political power, such as the column of Trajan or the numerous statues of Lenin in the Soviet Union . They can be used to educate the populace about important events or figures from the past, such as in the renaming of the old General Post Office Building in New York City to the James A. Farley Building , after James Farley , former Postmaster General of the United States . To fulfill its informative and educative functions

924-505: 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 " The term

957-453: 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. The word "monument" comes from the Latin " monumentum ", derived from the word moneo , monere , which means 'to remind' or 'to warn', suggesting

990-601: The total height of the structure being 30 feet (9.1 m). However, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System gives the original height of the monument as 25 feet (7.6 m). Additionally, they state that at some point, some of the stones on the upper portion of the monument were replaced with shorter stones, giving a present height of 20 feet (6.1 m). Monument Monuments result from social practices of construction or conservation of material artifacts through which

1023-521: The war, he commanded the Springfield Arsenal before dying on March 31, 1790, at the age of 51. On December 23, 1859, the city council of Worcester passed an act allowing Timothy Bigelow Lawrence (Bigelow's great grandson and son of Abbott Lawrence ) to erect a monument to Timothy Bigelow on top of his burial place, located in Worcester Common . Worcester Mayor Alexander Bullock designated

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1056-593: 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

1089-475: Was customary for archaeologists to study large monuments and pay less attention to the everyday lives of the societies that created them. New ideas about what constitutes the archaeological record have revealed that certain legislative and theoretical approaches to the subject are too focused on earlier definitions of monuments. An example has been the United Kingdom 's Scheduled Ancient Monument laws. Other than municipal or national government that protecting

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