CONTRIBUTI / 20 / Beatrice Atzori
Monument, memory, counter-monument: a genealogy
The purpose of this essay is to trace a genealogy of the concept of monument. The path that I have taken attempts to show how Paul Ricoeur’s reflections on memory are deeply connected to any discussion on monuments and, in particular, how counter- monuments embody the three paradoxes of memory. The purpose of the first chapter is to clarify the term this essay attempts to investigate. Riegl’s Der moderne Denkmalkultus has been important in pointing out the close connection between the concept of the monument and the philosophical issue of memory. Since what we recognize in monuments is their value as memory, the second chapter aims to address three paradoxes of memory identified by Paul Ricoeur. In the third chapter I selected four case studies in order to show the evolution of the concept of monument in that of counter-monument.
