I like the idea of transferring "contentious" public monuments (Bristol's Colston statue, for example) into more controlled spaces like museums, where it is possible to add context to their removal, rather than arbitrarily destroying them because they're of "bad" people.
This enables continuing discussions of and/or learning from the point in history they represent, instead of simply forgetting the past.
Do you have thoughts on the Soviet war memorial in Treptower Park, Berlin? I was in the area recently and a friend said he'd never actually seen it, so we went to take a look. It's ridiculous in scale and grandeur, represents a complicated and difficult time in Germany's past, is maintained at considerable expense out of a (perhaps) misguided sense of loyalty, and on the whole I really can't decide how I should feel about it.
I like the idea of transferring "contentious" public monuments (Bristol's Colston statue, for example) into more controlled spaces like museums, where it is possible to add context to their removal, rather than arbitrarily destroying them because they're of "bad" people.
This enables continuing discussions of and/or learning from the point in history they represent, instead of simply forgetting the past.
Do you have thoughts on the Soviet war memorial in Treptower Park, Berlin? I was in the area recently and a friend said he'd never actually seen it, so we went to take a look. It's ridiculous in scale and grandeur, represents a complicated and difficult time in Germany's past, is maintained at considerable expense out of a (perhaps) misguided sense of loyalty, and on the whole I really can't decide how I should feel about it.