Monuments
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 A monument is an edifice made to commemorate an event or a person or an artistic object. They are also utilized to improve a city’s or location’s appearance. Planned cities like New Delhi, Brasilia and Washington D.C. are often built up around monuments. The location of the Washington Monument was considered to help form public space in the city before it got associated with George Washington. Monuments in older cities are located at places which are already significant or are redesigned to draw attention on one. The purpose of a monument is basically to awe or impress someone. According to English language, the word monumental is used to address something of extraordinary power and size. The word originates from Latin word “monere” which means “to warn” or “to remind”.
Monuments also include functional structures which are famous by their size, historical significance or age. This is due to the great size and age as is the Great Wall of China’s case or due to an event of great significance that might have happened there like the Oradour-sur-Glane Village in France.
Importance of Monuments
Monuments are often designed to pass on political or historic information.
3Monuments are also utilized for reinforcing the importance of present-day political power for eg. the numerous statues of Lenin in Soviet Union and the column of Trajan.
They are also used to educate the population regarding significant figures or events from the past like in the renaming of New York City’s old general post office building to the James A. Farley Building after General James Farley, the former postmaster.
Monuments have been made for thousands of years and are the most famous and durable symbols of ancient civilizations. The Greek Parthenon, the Moai of Easter Island or the Egyptian Pyramids have turned into symbols of their civilizations. Monumental structures like Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty have become the modern nation-state’s iconic emblems.
Types of Monuments
Buildings: These are designed as icon landmarks.
Memorials and Cenotaphs: These are designed to mark the dead people generally war casualties like India Gate and Vimy Ridge Memorial.
3Columns: these are mostly topped with statues like Nelson’s Column in London.
Grave Stones: consists of small monuments of a dead person.
There are many more types of monuments in the world and each one of them holds its special importance in one or the other way.
Until some time back, the study of large monuments was customary for archaeologists for which they had to pay less focus on the everyday lives in the societies, which made them..
Monuments In India
International Monuments
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