European University Institute Library

Monument wars, Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the transformation of the memorial landscape, Kirk Savage

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-372) and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Monument wars

bibliography

271647765

Kirk Savage

Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the transformation of the memorial landscape

The National Mall in Washington, D.C., is "a great public space, as essential a part of the American landscape as the Grand Canyon, " according to architecture critic Paul Goldberger, but few realize how recent, fragile, and contested this achievement is. In 'Monument wars', Kirk Savage tells the Mall's engrossing story<U+0127> its historic plan, the structures that populate its corridors, and the sea change it reveals regarding national representation. Central to this narrative is a dramatic shift from the nineteenth-century concept of a decentralized landscape, or "ground"-heroic statues spread out in traffic circles and picturesque parks-to the twentieth-century ideal of "space, " in which authority is concentrated in an intensified center, and the monument is transformed from an object of reverence to a space of experience. Savage's lively and intelligent analysis traces the refocusing of the monuments themselves, from that of a single man, often on horseback, to commemorations of common soldiers or citizens; and from monuments that celebrate victory and heroism to memorials honoring victims. An indispensable guide to the National Mall, 'Monument wars' provides a fresh and fascinating perspective on over two hundred years of American history

Introduction -- 1. A monument to a deceased project -- 2. Covering ground -- 3. The mechanic monster -- 4. Inventing public space -- 5. The monument transformed -- 6. The conscience of the nation -- 7. An end to war, an end to monuments?