A Monumental History

Part 10, Miss Liberty

     We can count on our fingers the monuments built since then which can be called WORLD
 class: the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore, Grant's Tomb, Westminster Abbey, Stalin's Tomb
 and only a few others (I have to save those others for later due to their surprise value.)
 It did free up the architect though. The following list are no less monuments
 in the traditional sense of the word, but they now have a new flavor called
 NATIONAL. Here I will list a few American monuments:
 Monticello&ldots;&ldots;The Life is Jefferson's, the Event is Independence and American Wisdom;
 Mormon Temple&ldots;&ldots;The Life is Joseph Smith's, the Event is establishment of the Church of the
 Latter Day Saints; Hearst's Castle...&ldots;The Life is William Randolph Hearst, the Event is the enriching of
 the average man; Empire State Building&ldots;&ldots;The Life is of a city, the Event is the dawn of modern Capitalism;
 Hoover Dam&ldots;&ldots;The Life is the new politician, the Event is the taming of nature
 as never before seen; Golden Gate Bridge..&ldots;The Life (controversial)
 is Joseph Strauss, the Event is the birth of modern engineering.

      Now let's give you a little surprise. The following two monuments are, indeed,
 national by nature but are, nonetheless, traditional in construction and meaning:
 The Wall, and the Statue of Liberty. The Wall, in Washington DC, is not all that
 much of a surprise, granted. It was designed and constructed by a memorialist. Its
 lettering is Latin in format, its design proportional and traditional. But why did
 I mention the other?

      The Statue of Liberty was dedicated and commisiioned as a lighthouse in 1886.
Liberty lifts her lamp high into the air beside the 'Golden Door,' New York Harbor,
 the gateway from the old world, filled with restrictions, to the new, founded
 upon freedom. The entrance to a new life. And this is the key. Liberty is a functioning lighthouse.
 The Statue of Liberty is also a gift - from the French - and in that token thought lies another clue to why
 we classify her as a memorial. She stands on Ellis Island, another clue. The statue itself
 has its origins in French politics and their famous revolution which brought about the
 New Republic, yet another clue. Its base is reminiscent of America's old republic, and
 its format  is Latin in style and grace. Now let's put all that together. Miss Liberty
 stands vigil over a world that no longer exists, and she was placed there by those who 
 were the most revered and honored at that time, placed there to speak to future
 generations about the hope in America they held firmly to. She also stands on a place 
 which no longer invites the weak, the weary and the persecuted - Ellis Island is just
 one big museum nowadays. And Miss Liberty will not stand the test of time as the
 pyramids have: she is made of lightly cast bronze. But that granite base will last. And it will forever
 be looked upon as mankind's faith in the words 'Hope, and dreams and freedom.' Since her
 erection in 1886, times have changed on all fronts for freedom lovers. Already Miss
 Liberty is seen more and more as a memorial to when America was the home of the free
 and the brave. Because 'that' America is no more, Miss Liberty is a memorial and a
 very sacred monument.

Go to:

Part 1, Introduction. | Part 2, The Taj Mahal. | Part 3, Newgrange & Stonehenge. | Part 4, Nile Valley. | Part 5, Persepolis. | Part 6, Parthenon. | Part 7, Pont Du Gard. | Part 8, The Colosseum & St. Augustine & MASONS. | Part 9, Renaissance. | Part 10, Miss Liberty. |

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