Monuments

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. 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.

Monumentos

As societies became organized on a larger scale, so monuments so large as to be difficult to destroy like the Egyptian Pyramids, the Greek Parthenon, Indian Taj Mahal or 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. 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. 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 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.

纪念碑

Order Digital Image 10.966 on A4 scale

Monumente

Памятники

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 in order to desecrate the pagan religion. In 1687 the Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed and looted by a Venetian soldier who shot a reserve of gunpowder stored there. A 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.

Anıtlar

Les Monuments

Types of monuments are; benchmarks, church monuments (e.g. the medieval church Sta Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila), buildings designed as landmarks (Burj Khalifa in Dubai), Cenotaphs (e.g. Titanic Memorial, Belfast), columns (e.g., Trajan’s Column in Rome), eternal flames (e.g., Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Moscow), fountains (e.g. Fontaines de la Concorde), Gravestones (e.g., Srebrenica Genocide Memorial), mausoleums and tombs (e.g., the Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga), Monoliths (e.g., Stonehenge), mosque monuments (e.g., the Mosque of the Prophet), mounds (e.g., Kościuszko Mound), obelisks (Washington Monument), Palaces (Forbidden City in Beijing), searchlights (e.g., Tribute in Light in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001), statues (e.g., the Niederwalddenkmal Germania in Hesse), temples or religious structures (Kaaba in Mecca), terminating vistas (e.g., Opera Garnier in Paris), triumphal arches (e.g., Arc de Triomphe in Paris) and war memorials (Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington).