Monument 525098 224346345 2008-07-08T13:16:53Z 212.56.70.117 inserted passage to discuss the fluidity of meaning of most monuments. {{otheruses}} [[Image:Taj Mahal in March 2004.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[Taj Mahal]], [[India]], commissioned by the [[Mughal]] Emperor [[Shah Jahan]], as a [[mausoleum]] for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum.]] [[Image:Lisbon monument.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The [[Padrão dos Descobrimentos]], [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]], celebrates [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] explorers.]] [[Image:Corcovado_statue01_2005-03-14.jpg|200px|right|thumb|[[Corcovado]] Hill in [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] with Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue]] [[Image:arch.of.constantine.threequarter.view.arp.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Arch of Constantine]], [[Rome]], [[Italy]] commemorating a victory by [[Constantine I]] in AD 312]] A '''monument''' is a structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past events. They are frequently used to improve the appearance of a city or location. Cities that are planned such as [[Washington D.C.]], [[New Delhi]] and [[Brasília]] 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]]. 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 ([[James Farley Post Office]]), after former Postmaster General [[James Farley]]. The social meanings of monuments are rarely fixed and certain and are frequently 'contested' by different social groups. As an example whilst 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 fascism and paranoia of that state. This contention of meaning is a central theme of modern 'post processual' archaeological discourse. 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]] [[Pyramid]]s, 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 recently, it was customary for [[archaeologist]]s 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. ==Types of monuments== *[[Building]]s designed as iconic landmarks *[[Church monument]]s to commemorate the dead, above or near their grave, often featuring an [[effigy]] *[[Cenotaph]]s and [[memorial]]s to commemorate the dead, usually war casualties - e.g. [[Vimy Memorial|Vimy Ridge Memorial]] and [[India Gate]] *[[Column]]s, often topped with a statue - e.g. [[Nelson's Column|Nelson's Column in London]] *[[Headstone|Grave stone]]s constitute small monuments to a dead person *[[Mausoleum]]s and [[tomb]]s to inter the dead - e.g. the [[Great Pyramid]] and [[Taj Mahal]] *[[Monolith]]s erected for religious or commemorative purposes - e.g. [[Stonehenge]] *[[Obelisk]]s usually erected to commemorate great leaders - e.g. the [[Washington Monument]] *[[Statue]]s of famous individuals or symbols - e.g. [[Statue of Liberty]] *[[Terminating vista]], layout design for urban monuments *[[Triumphal arch]]es, almost always to commemorate military successes - e.g. the [[Arc de Triomphe]] *Entire areas established as memorials to commemorate wartime atrocities or notably bloody battles - e.g. [[Oradour-sur-Glane]] or the battlefields at [[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania]] and [[Borodino]]<!-- this should be moved to memorials --> *On occasion, monuments also refer to areas of special natural beauty ==See also== *[[List of monuments in the United States]] *[[Memorial]] *[[National memorial]] *[[National monument]] *[[National Monuments Record]] the public archive of [[English Heritage]], holds data on England's monuments ==External links== * [http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/index.htm Website of Monuments and Sculptures in UK] *[http://www.kamat.com/indica/monuments/index.htm Monuments of India at kamat.com] [[Category:Monuments and memorials| ]] [[ar:نصب]] [[cs:Monument]] [[de:Monument]] [[eo:Monumento]] [[es:Monumento]] [[fi:Monumentti]] [[fr:Monument]] [[he:מונומנט]] [[it:Monumento]] [[ja:モニュメント]] [[nl:Monument (gedenkteken)]] [[no:Monument]] [[pl:Pomnik]] [[pt:Monumento]] [[ru:Памятник]] [[simple:Monument]] [[sl:Spomenik]] [[sv:Monument]] [[th:อนุสรณ์สถาน]] [[tr:Anıt]] [[ug:خاتىرە مۇنار]] [[zh:古蹟]]