Mt Rushmore Memorial

There are many monuments in the world and they are all built to honor someone or something that was done by that person. For example, after the Maine Lobsterman was built, the fake bronze statue returned to Maine and spent several decades being moved from city hall to museum to museum. No one seemed to want the man and his lobster. The issue at hand is if the monuments being built are memorializing the person or moment created accurately. Monuments capture legacy and preserve the individual's actions throughout history. Specifically, monuments should consider purpose, location, and size in their creation.

"For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial" (Pericles). Memorials are an icon to represent some historical events that have happened or even people who have made a significant impact on society. For example, they symbolize many things that had happened in the past and people could go there and remember some good things that it has caused. People can even go there and pay tribute to the person the memorial is about. There are three sources that show the importance of memorials and why they should be built.

Depending on the placement of the monument the importance of the events contues genrations on. For an example, inorder for placing something of sagnificant value, the holocaust, would be placed somehwere of sagnifcant value, like a nations capital, but just anywhere in the nations capital. Eventhough DC is the nations capital "placeing the holocaust museum in a mall in DC is disrespectful and offensive" to the people who died and the servivers(source E). Just because its the national capital doesnt mean a mall in the nations capital is appropreate, besides lives were lost, not material things being bought. The failure for the creator(s) to think of that stripped the meaning and the pain behind the holocuast away. The placement of that museum made fun of, or even mocked the holocuast as if it is important to be remebered by America but not important to petray horrifying details of it. If the placement of the museum was to be in central DC near the White House, it creates a more important rule in Americas everyday life, because its near where the prisident lives, its near where people go to live the American dream. It would reinforce the meaning of the tragidy, the menaing of being saought out just becuase of you religion, the meaning of being gased alive, the meaning of being torn away from your family, the meaning of starving in the cold winters, and lastly

Statues are typically large and may cover a fair amount of space, plaques are small-scaled, even though they are not as big as statues they still achieve their purpose which is to make people see it and remember. In the making of a memorial agencies should work with the space they have and not try to overpower it. As Maya Lin said, “I wanted my design to work with the land, to make something with the site, not to fight it or dominate it” (Source G). The memorial should stand out but not overshadow the setting.

As shown above, the presence of these monuments is not beneficial towards the people. As stated in the preceding paragraphs, monuments are not for the dead but for the living; so, honoring them will do no good to those who died but have an effect on the people still alive. These monuments all have stories to tell and those stories are apart of our past - a past we no longer claim. Honoring these statues emphasizes that black lives do not matter and that racism is still present till this

A monument is an solid, carved in statue that is an representation of a person or event that has made an remarkable time in the past. However, there are many different ways to remember a person or event. Memorializing an person or event is a great way to preserve history; because everyone agrees to enormous expensive statue is more entertaining than reading a boring textbook about the person or event. As a matter of fact, every person in American can not remember every person or event in history because there isn’t enough time and space for that. Therefore, a group or agency should consider the three main factors, size, location, and materials when planning or creating an memorial monument of an important person or event.

Monuments are a way you can immortalize a person. There are many ways to create monuments such as writing a book, Speeches, even sculpting. Many factors play into creating a monument of a person. When honoring a person you have to look at the location, size, and material and the significance of the monument.

The idea of keeping monuments in public spaces is a challenging choice for us all because for those who don’t like the idea of the monuments being removed they can become really violent much so that in the article “Battle Scars”

The first factor that should be considered when building a monument, is the reason for the monument to be built. As stated before, there are some monuments that were built for a good reasons, others for horrific events. Though there are too many good memorializations to mention, the amount of bad memorializations are fewer. An example of one of those monuments is the Savannah Memorial Park from Source D. Graveyards are good places to have, because you can have a nice place to go visit those who are no longer with you. However, it is a memorial that was built for a very sad reason. Many people have died in order to make this a memorial, and there will be many more to come.

A meticulously designed monument is more appealing to the eye, and a more memorable one, because the first thing you notice about a monument is it’s appearance. The Lincoln Memorial, as said by Kirk Savage in Monument Wars (source A), “is pure representation -- a colossal marble statue and the text of two speeches carved on enormous panels, all housed in a neoclassical temple…” Who would forget a “colossal” monument with a beautiful design aesthetic, marble, hand carvings, all in an isolated area. Less than a minute away from Lincoln, you have the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Maya Lin truly designed an elaborate monument, she knew exactly what she wanted and did an outstanding job. Every little detail counted, “The black granite walls, each two hundred feet long, and ten feet below ground at their lowest point (gradually ascending toward ground level) effectively act as a sound barrier, yet are of such height and length so as not to appear threatening or enclosing. The actual area is wide and shallow, allowing for a sense of privacy, and the sunlight from the memorial’s southern exposure along with the grassy park surrounding and within its walls, contribute to the serenity of the area.” (vvmf.org). As Maya Lin said in another online article for the New York Review, “Making the Memorial”, “I chose black granite in order to make the surface reflective and peaceful… The mirrored effect would double the size of

People will argue these monuments are racist’s symbols, which produce hatred, and a direct negative effect on people, and that is why they should be taken down, but do they really? What about those people who feel pride and honor when seeing these statues? Do we ignore the history of our nation to appease a few loud and ignorant people? How do we decide who decides our history? Is it the ones who are the loudest? The ones who have the most money? Are we as American ok with curtailing and erasing our history? When we start to take apart our history and selectively hide or delete these images we are dangerously close to becoming a society based off of totalitarian ideals, of censoring speech and controlling knowledge. We are getting back to the

"Monuments are the grappling-irons that bind one generation to another." Everyone will always have memories and stories from the past history. Why should monuments be made? Are they even important? Yes, monuments are important. Monuments give the people that lived through the event, something to look at and be reminded of what happened. They also show people that did not live through it, how important it was to the older generation or other people. another thing that monuments do is it brings people together, it helps the youth understand past struggles. Monuments are something that commemorate a famous person or event they also show what has happened in the past.

As an American, who happens to be half Mexican, memorials are seen differently by many different people; their lust for recognition, or their respect to either a nation’s greatness; or to the protectors of that nation, are a couple central values. However, when creating monuments to memorialize either party, designers must consider many aspects. Such as: what is the purpose of the monument? What does it symbolise and mean? What are the costs, money wise, but also physically? What is the monument going to destroy or remove? What will every group of people think about the monument? These are questions which must be asked before the construction process proceeds. Certain monuments bring positivity to the nation by bringing to

Monuments are used to memorialize and honor moments, individuals and events of the past. Some monuments do this better than other monuments. In creating a monument there are three essential factors a group or agency should consider to make the monument as effective as possible: location, design features, purpose and backstory. Why these factors? Location and design factors play a massive role in the reception the monument will receive, based on its environment, size and looks a monument will be perceived differently. The purpose and backstory are the two single most important factors to consider in creating a monument. The monuments history, its reason, is the reason just? Is the purpose proper? Does it accurately memorialize the subject? All these questions come with the purpose and backstory of a monument.