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. 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 . The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict gives the next definition of monument:
26-553: The Sidney Lanier Monument is a public monument in Atlanta , Georgia , United States . Located in Piedmont Park , the monument consists of a bust of Sidney Lanier , a notable poet from Georgia. The monument was dedicated in 1914. Sidney Lanier was a poet from Georgia who was born in Macon in 1842. After graduating from Oglethorpe University in 1860, he served as a private in
52-590: 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
78-569: 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
104-404: 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
130-436: 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
156-465: 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
182-440: 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 . Monumental sculpture Too Many Requests If you report this error to
208-672: The Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Following the war, Lanier, an accomplished flutist , played for the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore and published some of his most famous poems, such as " The Marshes of Glynn ". Lanier died at the ripe age of 39 due to tuberculosis he had contracted while he was a prisoner of war . After his death, he was honored with numerous memorials, such as in
234-635: 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
260-655: The context of other Confederate monuments, including in a report issued by the Atlanta History Center to the government of Atlanta on Confederate monuments and memorials in the city. The monument is designed in the form of an Egyptian stele , with a recessed area in the front of the monument holding a bust of Lanier. The bust faces west. 33°47′10″N 84°22′30″W / 33.78605°N 84.37494°W / 33.78605; -84.37494 Monument Monuments result from social practices of construction or conservation of material artifacts through which
286-477: 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
SECTION 10
#1732858987702312-542: 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
338-603: 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
364-439: 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
390-454: The monument's dedication, it became the subject of numerous acts of vandalism in the following years, with a popular college prank among students in Atlanta being to remove the bust from the monument. The bust was eventually removed and relocated to Oglethorpe University in 1985. In February 2012, a replica of the original bust was installed on the monument. The restoration, which took two years,
416-471: 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
442-483: The name of Lanier County, Georgia and Lake Lanier . The monument was erected in 1914 by the Piedmont Park Association. Sue Harper Mims, the wife of Atlanta Mayor Livingston Mims , funded the monument's creation and erection, having sold some of her jewels to raise the money. The monument was designed by Carrère and Hastings while the bust of Lanier was designed by Edward Clark Potter . Following
468-404: 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,
494-615: 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
520-591: 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
546-676: 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
SECTION 20
#1732858987702572-505: 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
598-453: 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
624-593: 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
650-475: 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
676-541: Was led by the Atlanta Preservation Center, with the newly restored monument debuted on February 4. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , the committee behind the restoration decided that the monument was not a Confederate monument , and therefore recommended keeping it in place. However, given his association with the Confederate States of America , numerous discussions of the monument are in
#701298