Two primary forms have been coughed up to remember of the dead world: gravestones and monuments. Both look somewhat akin in the act being conducted with the intent of memory, but they are very different in scale, intention, and the story they tell.
A gravestone is such a marker of proximity: an inscription of an epitaph set in stone or inscribed on metal. It will stand in place like a sentry—quiet in temperament but protective of the last resting place of a person in question. Gravestone memorials are typically fabricated by monument makers or other artisans who mold these durable tributes. They are repositories of names and dates—inscriptions of the poignant life essence a person leaves behind.
Meanwhile, a monument is an enterprise with a scale and ambition beyond the personal. It speaks even more to public or human memory. A monument communicates itself through its towering testament to historical events triumphs, catastrophes, or both that have left their imprint on our awareness. The gargantuan sculptures tell their own story. The relief from within demands our attention and forces us to stop and contemplate the tales that they envelop.
A monument, on the other hand, if the tombstones whisper the stories of the dead, will pour forth the saga to a full view of our shared past. They shine like beacons in the night, illuminating what was sacrificed for and gained from the struggle—crystallized into what we have today.
old headstone
All the monument-makers and designers endowed with creative vision and endowed with meaning designed colossus constructions full of meaning but not with duration. From the awe-inspiring pyramids of ancient Egypt to the solemn memorials that pay homage to the fallen, these monuments transcend their former physical form and turn into something completely different: repositories of our collective identity. Different graves or stones, their reach can be tiny or considerable, their size minute or extensive, and yet the stakes involved in their game of memory move toward the path to memory, and different monuments share that goal and leave a token of respect. Gravestones provide silent comfort in the knowledge that one has a place where one can go to gain reflection on the lives that have touched one’s own beyond a shadow of a doubt. But monuments can do that with a greater sense of awe and respect, filling one up for the more excellent canvas of human history that one is a part of.
Whether it is inscribed on a humble headstone or chiseled on the grand fronts of monuments, finally, these long-lasting tributes take their place in standing sentinel over our stories, an assurance that individuals’ lives and humanity’s victories are never washed into oblivion.