You’d be hard-pressed to travel through any town in the nation without seeing at least one public monument. Most monuments commemorate a local hero or seminal event from the past, or – if you’re actor Sylvester Stallone – yourself, in the guise of a movie character. Some monuments, such as the Statue of Liberty in New York or the Taj Mahal in India, are instantly recognizable by a global audience. In fact, monuments such as these are so distinctive that they have come to symbolize an entire nation. What purpose do monuments serve in society today, and what do they tell us?
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