This document discusses how different cultures through history have used art, architecture, and rituals to explore mortality and commemorate the dead. It provides examples of ancient Egyptian pyramids, temples, and the Terracotta Army in China, as well as the Mexican Day of the Dead traditions and memorial sites for 9/11 and wars in the United States. The structures and art served religious, political, and social purposes and used symbolism to represent ideas about death, the afterlife, and remembrance.

1. Mortality and Immortality
How do humans explore our
mortality through art and
architecture?

2. From ancient times to the present, the living make
both tombs and commemorative art to serve
various purposes:
→to express the cultures’ ideas and values
about death and the afterlife
→to closely tie religion to ritual burials
→to promote political and social intentions
→to visually establish power
→to guarantee honor, fame and/or glory.

3. 9.4 Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt.
From left, Menkaure, c. 2525–2475
BCE; Khafre, c. 2575–2525 BCE;
Khufu, c. 2600–2550 BCE.

4. 9.7 Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-
Bahri, Egypt, c. 490–1460 BCE.
This funerary temple was a
monument to the greatness of
Egypt’s woman pharaoh.
When high-ranking Egyptians began to hide tombs in hillsides,
the funerary temples were enlarged and emphasized.
The Mortuary Temple of HatshepsutMortuary Temple of Hatshepsut shows this development.
The temple housed 200 statues of her, painted reliefs showing
her divine birth, coronation, military victories, and other
exploits.
After death, Hatshepsut’s portraits were defaced, records of her
rule obscured.
They were rediscovered in the 19th C.

5. Dias de Los MuertosDias de Los Muertos
Days of the Dead
A social traditionsocial tradition, is the
Day of the DeadDay of the Dead,
celebrated in Mexico and
parts of the United States.

6.  Evidence indicates that pre-Columbian
people participated in festivals dedicated to
the dead many centuries ago.
In Mexico, a synthesis of pre-Columbian beliefs
and European ideas occurred with the coming
of the Spanish.

7. Ancient Goddess of the Dead: Mictlantecuhtl

9. In privateprivate homes, altars honor the
deceased, with incense, pictures of the
dead and their favorite foods.

12. Families may spend the night at the
graveyard, decorating the gravesites,
burning many candles.

15. • Many crafts are
created during
this holiday,
including food.
• Such as this
traditional sugar
skull decorated
with icing with a
place to put your
name.

16. In publicpublic, marketplaces are sites for
parades and celebrations.

17. José Guadalupe Posada
[Mexican Engraver, 1852-1913]
Political Printmaking
This artist used the skeletal figure with
political satire to make commentary on the
divide of social and economic classes.

19. Gran fandango y francachela de todas las calaveras
(Happy dance and wild party of all the skeletons)
Broadside
Type metal engraving
Calaveras performing the rituals and pleasures of everyday, mocking the
pretensions and vanity of life.

21. Funeral Complex of ShiFuneral Complex of Shi
HuangdiHuangdi one of the most extensive
tombs ever constructed.

22. In 1974, peasants digging a well
uncovered a buried army of 6,000
life-size clay soldiers guarding the
afterlife palace complex.
The torsos are hollow, the legs are solid.
The bodies are standardized:
→frontal
→stiff
→anatomically simplified
→But each distinctly different
Funeral Complex of Shi HuangdiFuneral Complex of Shi Huangdi

23. MEMORIALS
• What is a memorial?
• What is it expected to represent about
memory, death, loss and time?
• Is it a lesson from the past, or a warning in
the present?

24. • Contemplate examples of both public and personal
memorials you have seen or heard about in terms of
their designs and intentions:
• whether they are meant to be permanent or
temporary
• whether they are created by professional architects
or designers or the product of non-professional
individuals or groups
• whether they evoke ideas of grief, celebration or
community.

26. WASHINGTON, DC Korean War Memorial
Korean War Memorial

27. WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Designed by artist Maya Lin
Jan Scruggs, Founder and President, Vietnam Memorial Fund
Dedicated on November 13, 1982, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands in the Constitution Gardens at the National
Mall in Washington D.C. Two long black polished granite walls are inscribed with the names of the 58,000+ killed
during the war. The memorial was conceived by its designer, Maya Lin, as a place of healing and contemplation.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

28. WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund decided to
have only art professionals
on the selection jury.
These are the entry panels,
simple pastel drawings by
Maya Lin who was an
architectural student at the
time.
Her simple yet meaningful
design won the votes of the
selection jury.

29. WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The mission statement drafted
by the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund consisted of 4
simple points:
• Design must include
all 57,000+ names of
soldiers missing or
killed
• Design must be
apolitical
• Design must be
harmonious with site
• Design must
facilitate a healing
process

30. WASHINGTON, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial
I chose black granite in order to
make the surface reflective and
peaceful. I never looked at the
memorial as a wall, an object, but
as an edge to the earth, an
opened side. The mirrored effect
would double the size of the park,
creating two worlds, one we are a
part of and one we cannot enter.
The two walls were positioned so
that one pointed to the Lincoln
Memorial and the other pointed to
the Washington Monument. By
linking these two strong symbols
for the country, I wanted to create
a unity between the nation’s past
and present.
Maya Lin,
Designer of Memorial

31. 911 Memorial
The 9/11 Memorial was dedicated on September 11,
2011 the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in a
ceremony for victims’ families.

32. SHANKSVILLE, PA Temporary Memorial
In the weeks and months following the crash of Flight 93 in a field near
Shanksville, PA, a variety of personal, spontaneous remembrances were left near
the crash site. This temporary memorial site has served as a gathering place for
families and others seeking to mourn and remember those lost.

33. 911 Memorial Renderings
The 9/11 Memorial is located at the site of the former World Trade
Center complex, and occupies approximately half of the 16-acre site.
The 9/11 Memorial features two enormous waterfalls and reflecting
pools, each about an acre in size, set within the footprints of the twin
towers.

34. Pentagon Memorial
The Pentagon Memorial is designed so and individuals are welcome in the
Memorial each day but guided tours are not offered; the Memorial is meant to be
experienced on a more personal level. that the nation may remember and reflect
on the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

35. 911 Museum
The National September 11 Memorial Museum serves as the country's principal
institution concerned with exploring the implications of the events of 9/11, documenting
the impact of those events and exploring 9/11's continuing significance.

36. The Museum displays artifacts associated
with the events of 9/11, while presenting
stories of loss and recovery.