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Monument
*** Shopping-Tip: Monument
Image:Taj Mahal in March 2004.jpg thumb|250px|right|The [[Taj Mahal, commissioned by the
Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan, as a
mausoleum for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum.]]
Image:Nelson On His Column - Trafalgar Square - London - 240404.jpg thumb|right|250px|[[Nelson's Column in
Trafalgar Square,
London, commemorates Admiral
Horatio Nelson.]]
A '''monument''' is a statue, building, or other edifice created to commemorate a person or important event. They are frequently designed as
artistic objects to improve the appearance of a city or location. Cities that are planned such as
Washington D.C. and
BrasÃlia are often built around monuments. The
Washington Monument's location (and vertical geometry, though not physical detail) was conceived to help organize public space in the city before it was ever connected with
George Washington. Older cities have monuments placed at locations that are already important or are sometimes redesigned to focus on one. As
Percy Bysshe Shelley 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. In
English language English the word "monumental" is often used in reference to something of extraordinary size and power. The word comes from the Latin "monere," which means 'to remind' or 'to warn.'
Functional structures made notable by their age, size or historic significance can also be regarded as monuments. This can happen because of great age and size, as in the case of the
Great Wall of China, or because an event of great import occurred there such as the village of
Oradour-sur-Glane in
France.
Monuments are also often designed to convey historical or political information. They can be used to reinforce the primacy of contemporary political power, such as the column of
Trajan or the numerous statues of
Lenin in the
Soviet Union. More benignly they can be used to educate the populace about important events or figures from the past. Monuments also serve as demarcators of public spaces.
Most large monuments are built by governments, but smaller ones are still often built by individuals.
Monuments have been created for thousands of years, and they are often the most durable and famous symbols of ancient civilizations. The
Ancient Egypt Egyptian Pyramids, the
Ancient Greece Greek Parthenon, and the
Moai of
Easter Island have become symbols of their civilizations. In more recent times, monumental structures such as the
Statue of Liberty and
Eiffel Tower have become iconic emblems of modern nation-states. The term ''monumentality'' relates to the symbolic status and physical presence of a monument.
Until relatively recently, it 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.
Common types of monument
Image:Lisbon monument.jpg right|250px|thumb|The "Monument to the Discoveries" in [[Lisbon,
Portugal, commemorating famous
Portuguese people Portuguese explorers.]]
*
Buildings designed as iconic landmarks - e.g. the
Empire State Building
*
Cenotaphs and
memorials to commemorate the dead, usually (though not always) war casualties - e.g.
Vimy Memorial Vimy Ridge Memorial and
India Gate
*
Columns, often topped with a statue - e.g.
Nelson's Column
*
Grave stones constitute small monuments to a dead person
*
Mausoleums and
tombs to inter the dead - e.g. the
Great Pyramid and
Taj Mahal
*
Monoliths erected for religious or commemorative purposes - e.g.
Stonehenge
*
Obelisks usually erected to commemorate great leaders - e.g. the
Washington Monument
*
Statues of a famous individual or as a symbol - e.g.
Statue of Liberty
*
Triumphal arches, almost always to commemorate military successes - e.g. the
Arc de Triomphe
*Entire areas can also be used as memorials, usually to commemorate wartime atrocities or notably bloody battles - e.g.
Oradour-sur-Glane or the battlefields at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and
Borodino.
*On occasion, areas of special natural beauty are also referred to as monuments.
See also
*
Seven Wonders of the World
*
Monument Valley
*
Terminating vista
*
Bank and Monument stations Monument tube station and
Monument to the Great Fire of London
*
Monument Avenue (
Richmond, Virginia)
Category:Memorials
Category:Monuments
de:Monument
es:Monumento
he:×?× ×“×¨×˜×”
fr:Monument
nl:Monument (gedenkteken)
ja:�跡
pl:Pomnik
pt:Monumento
sl:Spomenik
sv:Monument
zh:�蹟
*** Shopping-Tip: Monument
