ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a content analysis of the popular literature dealing with war memorial design, which was apparently abundant in the mid and late 1940s. It argues that physical objects, and ceremonial architecture in particular, serve some special functions in the cultural life of man. Physical objects and places are almost always required for the localization of the memorial symbol. Memorial places and objects are the locations at which the sentiments represented may be appropriately and publicly expressed by individuals, alone or in groups. When the symbolic and utilitarian functions of war memorials are compatible with reference to a common system of values, the memorial serves to strengthen these values and thereby contributes to the solidarity of the society. Most war memorials implicitly recognize this social function of physical place, but many provide for it inadequately.
