Monumental and Civic art

A branch of the plastic arts embracing a broad range of works created to harmonize with a specific architectural environment both in theme and in structural and chromatic design. Monumental art includes monuments, architectural ornamentation (sculpture, painting, and mosaics), stained glass, public sculpture, and fountains. (Some writers also consider architecture to be a form of monumental art.)

Representational compositions created for the facade or interior of a building, as well as monuments erected in public squares, are usually intended to embody and to acquaint the broad masses with the most general social and philosophical ideas of the time or to perpetuate the memory of an eminent person or important event. Forming a synthesis with architecture, works of monumental art give expression to the idea contained in a building, ensemble, or architecturally organized space. Often they are relatively self-contained and are the dominant part of an ensemble. A striving to express lofty ideas dictates the majestic language of their artistic forms and their scalar relationship to man, to surrounding objects and space, and to the natural environment.