Architectural Styles Between the National Term Paper

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Above the roundel is a frieze from a monument to Trajan depicting a battle scene, and the west end contains an image of Luna, the moon goddess, in a chariot" (Sullivan, 2005, p.1). In contrast, the more modest, but still impressive, single-barreled Valley Forge structure is resoundingly secular in its images, as befits a national, American structure in a nation where freedom of religion reigns. (Interestingly, Constantine would later become famous as the first Christian emperor, despite the fact that his triumphal arch contains images of pagan gods and goddesses. The left hand roundel on the north face of the structure even shows Constantine in the form of a recut head of an older emperor, sacrificing to the god Apollo) (Sullivan, 2005, p.2).

In the past, triumphal arches were almost exclusively used to commemorate either great men or great victories, or both in war. The Arch of Constantine thus may say to stand as an example and the crowning glory of this long, classical tradition. However, despite the National Memorial Arch's incongruous location in a rather pastoral area, and what may seem like the inappropriateness of a neoclassical, 17th century work's construction at the beginning of the 20th century, architecturally, the National Memorial Arch shows the ability of America to reconfigure as well as use old traditions of European architecture in a distinctly American spirit.

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The National Memorial Arch celebrates the common, ordinary private who fought and died beside Washington, to win America's freedom, along with Washington himself. Washington is not shown as a god, but as a general leading an army. The National Memorial Arch pays homage to the past but it does not recycle the materials of the past and recreate them to celebrate the new regime like the Arch of Constantine. Thus, despite the greater size and detail, National Memorial Arch in a way stands prouder and taller, morally than the Arch of Constantine. The American structure is not made by carefully recreated figures of the past, to commemorate the 'more perfect' emperor of the present. Rather it is made from new stone, to celebrate the founding of America in the past, and says that America still struggling for its freedom against tyranny today, and still winning the fight.

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