Ozymandiump

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS rulers have attempted to stamp their legacy on the civilizations that follow. Entranced by their own perceived greatness, they are obsessed with raising or placing their names on largely useless monuments to what they feel to be their lives and accomplishments.

The great majority of these leaders fall by the wayside, as described in the Shelly sonnet alluded to in this column’s title. If the monuments themselves are remembered, those who raised them are not. Who today knows or cares what Khufu looked like, what kind of person he was, or how he acted in real life? Few save those dedicated historians whose life’s work it is to burrow into the cracks and crevices of time.

Throughout history rulers have been afflicted by the need to put their names on monuments. The bigger the construct, the louder the almost desperate shout of “I was here and I was great, pay attention to me. Please!” Power does not cure insecurity, and the need for validation is ever-present. You build a pyramid, I’ll build bigger one. You build a palace, I’ll build a more impressive one. If I’m Adolph Schikelgruber, I’m going to redo the city of Berlin with massive, overbearing structures, not because the fine old city needs them, but simply so I can put my name on them. While I’m at it I’ll bury the works and names of my predecessors, lest the populace glorify them instead.

Over time this kind of personal architectural aggrandizement slowly gave way to ore modest mementos. Trajan’s column is notably less vast than the pyramids or the colossal statues of Ramses II, and at least it tells a story. The Acropolis (the one in Athens; there are others) had a real function. Huge houses of worship such as St. Paul’s in London and St. Sophia in Istanbul called attention not so much to those who raised them but to their faiths.

I’ve mentioned a few of the grandiose structures that have survived. Many more have been torn down or repurposed by the rulers who followed their predecessors. Whole cities intended to celebrate the power and accomplishments of those who presided over them have partly or completely sunk into the ground, just as Shelly said. Babylon, Nineveh, cities in India and China have been reduced to pebbles and dust. Many of the Spanish-built structures in Lima, Peru sit on Incan foundations. And those are only the ones we know of. I’m sure there remain cities, entire kingdoms and their kings, that have perished and been lost to time. We are still struggling to identify the Mayan monarchs and those who lorded it over the African kingdoms of Kush and Dzimba Dzambwe.

Yet here we are, with Donald Trump trying to stamp his name wherever he can in the nation’s capital. To my knowledge Vladimir Putin has not (yet) ordered the construction of any monumental edifices to bear his name. No giant statues, no museums, only restoration of church structures within the boundaries of the Kremlin itself. I don’t count his formerly secret “palace” on the shore of the Black Sea. Neither has Xi Jingping, despite the plethora of extensive construction projects completed and ongoing in China. The proposed Shuangjiankou dam in Sichuan Province is not called the Xi Jingping dam. The North-South Macau-Zhuhai bridge is just that.

The leaders who plant their names firmly in history are, for better or sometimes worse, remembered for their deeds, not for installing nameplates on buildings. They are memorialized by others. Trying to memorialize oneself smacks of self-doubt, not greatness.

But I will cut Trump a break regarding one memorial he wishes to raise. He proposes a 250’ tall triumphal (get it?) arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial. In renderings it looks very much like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which itself takes its architectural elements from the Arch of Titus in Rome. If built, Trump’s arch will, of course, be far bigger than either.

I don’t see the need for yet a third version of the same design. Why not build something from an entirely new plan? Something that celebrates modernity instead of reaching yet again into the past? This country has a number of accomplished, admired architects. Give them a chance to create something entirely new in the category of triumphal archways.

In fact, why stop at one grand arch? Why not two, parallel to one another? And they should be gold, further memorializing Trump’s personal tastes. Two golden arches side by side.

I might even know of a company willing to finance that project.

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