They can be seen as attempts by individuals, groups or nations to project interpretations of past time into the future.
Time plays a part both in the ideas behind the construction of monuments, and in their reception.
The term monument is derived from the latin word monere , which can be read as to remind and also to teach , or even to admonish . This section focuses on the study of monuments intended as pedagogic instrucments, designed to operate on the general public either at the time of their original erection or as symbols from an earlier age ready to be invested with a new symbolism. The basic problems that artists have faced in producing monuments have changed but slightly until the present day. This generally increased interest has stimulated creative research among art historians, and scholars from a number of other disciplines, whilst prompting critical reappraisal and radical new approaches from the commissioning agencies, clients and sculptors who are involved in creating new monuments and works of art. This has brought new theoretical, as well as methodological, issues to the fore.