What makes something worth preserving? Who gets to decide what is worth preserving? How does one balance the suffering caused by something with the need to recognize its history? Professor Jeffrey Schnapp’s talk, “Uncomfortable (Revolutionary) Monuments,” made me contemplate the role of preservation and monuments in the history that we remember. Professor Schnapp discussed the Monument to Victory in the Italian town of Bolzano, a remnant of the country’s fascist regime in the World War II era. He explained the controversy that has surrounded the monument for decades and the recent exhibition that strove to contextualize and acknowledge the monument’s past. The exhibit does an excellent job of navigating the thorny territory surrounding elements of history that are not remembered fondly by all. Continue reading