Monument

Monuments are usually created for the dual function of commemorating an important event or person while also creating an artistic object that will improve the appearance of a city or location. Cities that are planned such as Washington D.C. and Bras?lia 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 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 the word "monumental" is often used in reference to something of extraordinary size and power.

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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.

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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.

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Most large monuments are built by governments, but smaller ones are still often built by individuals.

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Monuments have been created for thousands of years, and they are often the most durable and famous symbols of ancient civilizations. The Egyptian Pyramids, the 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.

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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.

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Washington D.C.: Washington, D.C....

Washington Monument: The Washington Monument usually refers to the large white-colored obelisk in the center of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built as a memorial to George Washington, the first President of the United States and the leader of the revolutionary Continental Army, which won independence from the B...

George Washington: George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799) was an American planter, political figure, and military leader. Born of English descent into a moderately wealthy family in the Province of Virginia, Washington worked as a surveyor before inheriting his half-brother's plantation, Mount V...

Monument related Images and Photos (experimental)

Monument I	Monument Valley	Monument Valley Utah	Monument Valley - Arizona
Monument Valley Arizona	Goethe Monument	Monument Valley Utah USA	Monument Valley Utah USA
Monument at Night	Monument Valley Arizona USA	Monument Valley Arizona USA	Washington Monument