The Mood of the Sacred

Abstract

The article aims to problematize the notion of contemporary sacred by looking into some of the relevant issues regarding contemporary memorial architecture dedicated to remembering atrocities. The text contextualizes memorial architecture as a relatively recent genre that originated in response to the carnage of the two world wars to stress that the modality of the form is dependent on given socio-cultural and political contexts. In arguing that agency of both designer and the design are essential in the conception of today’s spaces of remembrance, the author discusses appropriation as a process that renders memorial architecture meaningful. The argumentation is supported by a number of examples such as 11M memorial in Madrid and the Namenmonument in Amsterdam that demonstrate a variety of approaches and their consequences for the notion of sacred as a consensus between different stakeholders.