It would seem that designing a monument would be the ideal commission
for an architect, finally able to ignore the practicalities of
function that hinder the artist within. But what is, and are
the functions of, a monument? and how does one design
a monument? Two contrary definitions exist for a monument: 1.
something set up to keep alive a person's or event's memory;
2. a work of of enduring value or significance. The former is
designed as a monument, the latter becomes a monument. Gedenksätte
Lindenstrasse in Berlin, Germany by Zvi Hecker, a monument to a synagogue destroyed
on the site, straddles the two definitions (unfortunately the
situation pertaining to the synagogue's destruction is unknown
by this writer, so this essay takes a general approach to its
design and meaning).
