This may be too long, not sure yet. I'll add the rest as soon i get it.
Is Gettysburg relevant today beyond our desire to remember an important part of our country’s history? Is there tangible relevance to our current national and global concerns?
The answer is yes.
Gettysburg seemingly has lost its relevance because we have no notion of or relation to its causes or it’s dead. Its occurrence and outcome shaped the direction of our country’s evolution, but today the Civil War is mainly stuff for middle school textbooks and History Channel specials. Slavery is gone, and so is any personal memory of it and anyone who fought to keep or abolish it.
What is still relevant today is the fallibility of man and his shortsightedness in dealing with his surroundings. Today we are still at war, but for entirely different reasons. Outside of a few thousand families, we have no personal experience with our current war other than the pain at the pump. This is a pain everyone feels. At this point, few would argue against the invasion of Iraq as anything but a failing attempt to gain easier access to oil, a war whose blunders have squandered billions of dollars, ended thousands of lives, propelled gas prices across the globe, and severely damaged America’s image and value of our currency. I apologize for politicizing, but this is something that affects everyone here however slightly or greatly we feel the impact.
The men at the white house start our wars, but our society’s indifference towards unsustainable practices give those in power the incentive to profit off of our desires, be it free labor and cheap cotton in the past, or plenty of gas for our suvs and oil and timber for the vinyl siding and framing of our mcmansions today.
The thousands of lives lost at Gettysburg have their memorials, and someday those that have died in Iraq will have their own; they deserve to be remembered.
I am more interested in the larger picture that needs to be remembered. It is not the lives lost in Iraq, its not just the thousands buried in Gettysburg, its not just sustainability, but it is a reminder that an indifferent and unaware society is the root cause of unnatural disasters such as war, pollution, global warming, terrorist attacks, oil spills, and industrial catastrophes; it’s just easier to point the finger in another direction, especially in a quiet, beautiful rural setting like Gettysburg.
If monument has the power to memorialize our triumphs, tragedies, and deaths in hindsight, then I believe that monument can provide the foresight to prevent future losses through a heightened awareness of our history, relationship to each other, and to our built and natural environment. Experiencing this monument will raise questions about the big issues on a very personal level.
There is a very specific and captivating site on the Gettysburg battlefield that is the only possibility for addressing these issues. Devil’s Den is an outcropping of rocks that is millions of years old whose historical significance lasted all but a day of fierce battle. Today it is one of the most popular destinations of the battlefield tour for its natural magnificence.
It is salvation for children bored by dad dragging them around a hundred monuments, an obstacle course for those unafraid of heights, a romantic spot for teenagers on dates, and a site with hundreds of stony seats for reading, contemplation, or just taking in a beautiful view. For the most part, Gettysburg is a drive through monument extravaganza, but every car stops here. This is a vital organ of the monumental Gettysburg experience. Chances are every one of Gettysburg’s 10,000 residents, and 2,000,000 visitors have walked the paths and climbed the rocks of Devil’s Den.
This site is the greatest evidence of the topography’s power over the course of the battle. The influence nature has over man. It was named for its vicious role in the battle, a den for snipers. This land was a point for one soldier to use nature as an advantage, and the other to be its victim.
This is true for many areas of Gettysburg, but here the casual visitor can actually feel it. They can imagine the danger or safety around every turn, behind every rock.
Then they are transported beyond the battle, to the creation of the land. How the hell did they get here? How are they resting as they are, stacked like granite dominoes, some of which seemingly balance like an egg on its top end? These questions wash passersby with humility.
Here you watch your step, brace yourself on natural railings, and enjoy the view. This is a site for the unexpecting tourist to contemplate his relationship to nature, if only for a brief moment. Now that the beauty of nature has brought you here, let me show you something.
This will become a site for the unexpecting tourist to contemplate his relationship to nature, his society, his history, and the built form after I’m through. Gettysburg lacks a definitive encompassing monument; this will be collaboration between natural monumentality and that of the monumental built form. The monument and visitors center built here will utilize the land and be subject to it. Here a visitor will explore the causes of unnatural disaster, the course of our actions, and its impact through architectural installation built above, below, around, inside, in spite of, or in addition to the natural topography. In terms of technical sustainability and regeneration everything built will be LEED certified and powered with alternative energy, but it will go beyond superficial implementation. It will be a testament to the architectural hubris of man involved with manipulating nature for his vision, and his humility in adapting to nature when he cannot overcome it.
Here the civil war is still relevant, and so are today’s crises. Interest in this specific part of history will bring visitors; the topic of today’s concerns will be integrated to understand the gravity of our actions, words, and choices in our past and present day.
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