Интеллект. Инновации. Инвестиции (Sep 2021)

Monument in the context of historical memory

  • I. A. Apollonov ,
  • A. A. Khlevov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2021-4-76
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4
pp. 76 – 85

Abstract

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The article examines the problem of the relationship between historical monuments and historical memory. The purpose of the article: to consider the hermeneutical significance of monuments. In this context, the sculptural image is considered as a special way of understanding the past and interpreting history. This approach involves the use of hermeneutical methodology in the study of historical monuments, in which monuments appear to be the assertion of certain values and ideas. The ideas expressed in the monuments connect the past with the present and the future, are the embodiment of the identification symbols of the people and the state. The ideological component of the semantics of historical monuments is investigated. It is shown that the monuments are used to establish a certain political project of power, which is justified by the construction of the corresponding historical narrative. At the same time, monuments appear as sacred symbols of historical memory in its essential aspect, as a fateful connection between the past and the present. The dialogical nature of historical memory is considered. It is proved that the main condition for such dialogicality is the apophatic horizon of historical truth, which allows us to see the unity and integrity of the historical process in the diversity of past events. The penetration into the apophatic horizon of the truth about the past determines the hermeneutic potential of the historical monument as a means of understanding and conceptualizing the memory of the past. The author considers the semantic levels of a historical monument: the external level, which addresses the facticity of a historical person or event, and the artistic content of the monument, which reveals the significance of this facticity. The semantics of the first level is determined by the ideologeme associated with the policy of memorization. The intrinsic value of this level leads to simplification, schematization of the image, turning the monument into a simple memorative sign. The second level involves the expression of the ideological content of history in the monument. Such a level of understanding is based on the personal characteristics of the hero to his specific historical significance and universal universal meanings. Thus, a hermeneutic circle is formed, in which the visual concreteness of the image combines the facticity of a historical person or event and the ideological content of this facticity.

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