MODERN MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS

A monument often commemorates a heroic idea, sometimes embodied by a great person such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Memorials are works of architectural art or sculpture that honor the dead and help us remember what they died for.

In World War II, millions of Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. A holocaust of that magnitude is difficult to comprehend. Artists in many fields have tried to grapple with this enormous loss. In the film Schindler's List, for example, Steven Spielberg honored a man who helped many Jews survive. If you haven't seen the movie, Google the trailer to get a glimpse of the horrific events that haunt us even today.

OBJECTIVES

• Discuss Gustave Eiffel's contributions to monuments.

• Describe the planning and execution of the Golden Gate Bridge.

• Explain the vision that inspired the Gateway Arch.

• Describe the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.

VOCABULARY

MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS – THE STATUE OF LIBERTY AND THE EIFFEL TOWER

Throughout history, artists have been commissioned to create great works to recognize the deeds and accomplishments of heroes — whether individuals, groups of people, or even gods — or as a means of celebrating some abstract idea, such as liberty or the pioneering spirit. Pyramids, mounds, plazas, temples, and standing stones were all created as public spaces to honor some aspect of the ideal.

In a previous lesson, you learned about the Vietnam War Memorial, designed by Maya Lin. Memorials honor the dead and also commemorate their ideals. In this lesson we will look at some of the other modern monuments and memorials built in Europe and the United States.

The Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower

You know the name "Eiffel" because of the Eiffel Tower, designed by Gustave Eiffel, a French "constructor" who designed and built bridges, viaducts and other projects in Europe. Before he became famous for the Eiffel Tower that bears his name, Eiffel was instrumental in creating another great monument: The Statue of Liberty.

In 1885, the French people gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a sign of international friendship and to honor the concept of liberty established in the American Revolution. Gustave Eiffel designed the wrought-iron skeleton for the interior, copper for the exterior, and supervised the raising of the statue. Eiffel used his experience creating wrought-iron lattices for bridgework to make the large monuments.

Eiffel, however, was not the artist responsible for the "look" of the statue. That honor belonged to Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi.

Visit the National Park Service website and make notes on the history of the statue. What is the material used for the statue? How was it paid for?

Soon after the completion of the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel began his next project: The Eiffel Tower. This time there would be nothing covering up his engineering feat. The tower was commissioned to commemorate the hundred-year anniversary of the French Revolution for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889. Seven hundred proposals were submitted in a design competition, but Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. Not everyone was in favor of the structure and there were some protests, but the tower was built to great acclaim.

The Symbol of Paris 

It took two years to complete the project, which weighed 7,000 tons, was almost 1,000 feet high, and was decorated with tracery much like baroque churches of the past. Two and a half millions rivets were used in the construction. Want to hike up the Eiffel Tower? Go for it. It's only 1,652 steps.

The original intention was for the tower to be torn down and removed after twenty years, but people had grown rather fond of it, and it still remains standing — a symbol of Paris. Eiffel went to work next on the Panama Canal, but that project turned out to be a disaster; Eiffel lost his business, and his reputation suffered. He was even jailed briefly, though he was later exonerated of any wrongdoing.

After giving up his business, he began to search for a practical application for the Tower, and he found one in meteorology, when he created instruments to measure wind there. The Tower also served as a giant antenna for the new radio technology.

Notes

Visit the website and review the style and "notes" on the Eiffel Tower.

MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS – THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

The Golden Gate Bridge

Joseph Strauss, a bridge builder from Chicago, hatched the plan to build a bridge spanning the mouth of the San Francisco harbor. In 1921, Strauss, who had once proposed building a bridge over the Bering Strait, approached San Francisco's City Engineer with his plans. San Franciscans needed a faster way to get from the city to the rural area of Marin County than the ferry, but many were skeptical of Strauss' plan. For one thing, the cost was projected to be about 25 million dollars, which is a lot of money, even by today's standards.

It was another twelve years before construction began on the project.

Look at the picture by Ansel Adams of the Golden Gate before the bridge was built.

Three and a quarter million cubic feet of dirt had to be excavated from the sides of the Gate to build the bridge's giant anchorages, which were each twelve stories high. The Depression was in full force at the time, so the bridge attracted hundreds of workers. But building the bridge wasn't easy. High winds, treacherous waters, and even earthquakes caused delays and even a few deaths.

Go the PBS website and read the three different sections on building the bridge: "Golden Gate".

In May 1937, the bridge finally opened. Joseph Strauss crowed, "The Golden Gate Bridge, the bridge which could not and should not be built, which the War Department would not permit, which the rocky foundation of the pier base would not support, which would have no traffic to justify it, which would ruin the beauty of the Golden Gate, which could not be completed within my costs estimate of $27,165,000, stands before you in all its majestic splendor, in complete refutation of every attack made upon it."

While the Golden Gate Bridge was not technically built to commemorate anyone in particular, it has come to represent the spirit of American ingenuity and the beauty of San Francisco. A National Recreation area at the base of the bridge boasts five national historic landmarks and more than ten national register properties.

MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS – THE GATEWAY ARCH AND THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

The tallest national monument in the United States is the Gateway Arch, built in the Structuralist Expressionist Modern style. With this work, the arch, that beautiful invention perfected by the Romans, reached a new height — literally.

Begun in 1963, construction of the Gateway Arch was completed in 1965 on the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, to recognize the city's role in the westward expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century. Planning for the arch actually began in 1933. The park is also a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, who worked to open the western part of the country, and to the pioneers who endured hardship and risked their lives to settle the nation. The architect of the arch, Eero Saarinen, was born in Finland and studied in Paris and at Yale. He was inspired by Thomas Jefferson's dream of spreading the ideals of democracy from "sea to shining sea." The result is a 630-foot stainless steel masterpiece.

According to the Gateway Arch Riverfront website, "The Arch is a structure known as a catenary curve, the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and considered the most structurally-sound arch shape. The span of the Arch legs at ground level is 630 feet, the same as its height."

Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

We will finish this lesson on a more somber note. Architect Peter Eisenman stirred controversy when he unveiled plans for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. For this memorial, almost three thousand massive rectangular stones occupy a sloping stretch of land. These stones are arranged on a large plot of land between the former East and West Berlin. The stone slabs seem to undulate on the sloping land.

Eisenman created the design so visitors would feel the loss and disorientation that Jews felt during the Holocaust. That's partly accomplished by the way city sounds warp as they echo off the memorial. The memorial opened to the public in 2005.

When it opened, Eisenman said, "I like to think that people will use it for shortcuts, as an everyday experience, not as a holy place."

LET'S REVIEW!

In this lesson you learned about the following topics:

• Monuments and memorials are public art, built to commemorate or memorialize ideals or people.

• Some of our most important monuments include the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, The Golden Gate Bridge and The Gateway Arch.

• Memorials such as Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe are not only important works of art but also serve as a reminder of innocent lives lost as well.

Complete the quiz before moving on.