What to Remember?

Today in this world, we are surrounded by many monuments and memorials. From national memorials, like MLK Jr. Memorial, to local memorials, everything has a meaning behind it; these memorials want us to do something: to remember. 

But what does a monument ask us to remember? Whether explicitly stated or not, all monuments and memorials are built for remembrance of something. Their main purpose is usually to preserve a person, a thought, or something else of value. But even though the general purpose remains constant for almost every monument or memorial, the main question is what does a memorial want us to remember. 

What a monument wants us to remember depends on many factors but there are few tools that a visitor can use to define the purpose of a monument, and figure out what a memorial wants a viewer to remember. Some of the main ones include:
  • Geographical Location
  • Structure and Design
  • Written information

Geographical Location

Geography serves as an important tool in communicating the purpose of a memorial. A memorial's location and its surroundings help a viewer to understand its purpose. 
The location is an important tool for emphasis. The significance of the place the memorial is built in  helps define the purpose of the memorial. A memorial placed in DC, for example, will communicate its importance to the nation; on the other hand, a memorial placed in a small town will help underscore its importance to the town community. 

Surroundings is another important tool architects use to communicate a message. The meaning of the surroundings of a memorial can be used to connect to the memorial itself. For example, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC is between Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. Its placement in between serves to draw a connection between past, the Lincoln Memorial, and the future, the Washington monument.

Combing all the components, geography serves to define the purpose of memorial and the viewers can use that to determine what a memorial wants us to take away.

Structure and Design

Structure and design are other important tools that architects use to communicate their message to the viewers. Details in structure and design are used as symbols to communicate a message through a memorial. Even the smallest details in the memorials are intentionally created to show something important. It is significant to understand the meaning of these details to be able to fully understand the purpose of the monument. 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is an excellent example of this. The structure and design of the memorial serves as an important message. The memorial has a stone ("Stone of Hope") carved with a sculpture of MLK Junior. King is carved out of the stone, and the carving shows him as hope in the time of African American struggles. The sculpture also consists of scrape marks. These marks remind the viewers of the struggles faced by King and his followers in the movements to achieve equality. Together, these symbols reflect an important message about King: he fought for the equality of African Americans.

Just as the MLK Jr. Memorial discussed, many other memorials also use structure and design to reflect upon many memories inflicted by them.

Information about Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was obtained from National Park Service (NPS)

Written information

Last but not the least, the written information is another important tool used by architects to underscore their message through a memorial. The information that is written is mostly used to point towards the situation or a person the memorial intends to remember. 

Coming back to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the architect, Maya Lin, planned to inscribe names of the individuals who lost their lives in the war. These thousands of names inscribed encourage the viewers to remember those who sacrificed their lives for the country. Furthermore, the names are inscribed in chronological order. This order specifies the soldiers who lost their lives in a specific time. The written names communicate an important message and guide us what to remember.

Just like the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, written information serves as an important tool to guide us through the purpose of the memorial.

Conclusion

Throughout the blog, we discussed how a memorial communicates to its viewers "What to Remember?". Although there are many tools used by memorials to communicate their message, the three main identified were Geographical Information, Structure and Design, and Written Information. The techniques used by these tools were explained along with their examples. 

Share Your Thoughts through comments

What other tools do monuments use to define their purpose?





Location: Michigan, USA

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