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Golden Gate Bridge Monuments

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Have you ever been to Mt. Rushmore? Or the Gateway Arch? What about the Golden Gate Bridge? There's one thing these all have in common: they're all monuments that had a lot of planning go into them. Monuments are built in order for people to remember and honor the past. Whether it be people or events, there are many factors a group must consider when creating a monument. Monuments are a physical form of a history book; they help re-create and remember past events and people. When memorializing an event of person, a group of people should consider cost, design, and text factors when creating a monument.

The cost to build a monument is a huge factor in creating a memorial. The group would have to create a monument that fits their budget, or …show more content…

Designing a monument could be considered as one of the most stressful parts of building a monument because it is the first thing that people notice. However, it is not always the first thing imagined. According to Maya Lin, she first had to visit the site and, "it was at the site that the idea for the design took shape". Of course, there are always complications with the design: it does not fit the style of the artist, or if people would be against the monument. This is shown with the design for a Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Musser states the people were against a building copy, design-wise. There were also issues with the design being too "massive" which they then feared it "would overcome The Mall and take away the main purpose of the museum". Considering all of the above controversies about design alone, clearly the design artist has a lot on his or her hands, making design one of the key factors a group needs to consider when building a …show more content…

Words can be tricky when they are being placed on a monument. One has to make sure the quotes are correct. One has to make sure the quotes are perceived how they should be. One has to make sure names and other words are correctly spelled. Is the monument even going to have any words on it? All of these contribute to what one must consider when adding words to a monument. Any sort of word would bring back memories of the event. As stated by Lin, words can be used to capture "a specific moment in time or a single event or a generalized image" to resurrect memories of those lost in a tragic event. This is the goal of any monument at it's purest; to remember an event as it happened. Words can also depict important saying of the past, as it does the Gettysburg Address on the Lincoln Memorial (Savage). This is cause for importance because it prevents those words from being lost or twisted in the pages of history books. Words are of vast importance when building a monument, as they protect the quotes and people of the past from being nothing.

Cost, design, and words are only a few factors that should be considered when building a monument. As proved by prior facts, these by far are the most important as they dictate what people see and read. Without monuments, the public would have difficulties remembering and honoring past events and people. Not only that, but it ensures people remember and

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