I pretty much live in/near Tallinn these days, so I see a lot of stuff that you previously could only see on TV. One of those is the brand new Victory Column that Ive had the chance to eye from the window of a buss on several occasions. No offense, but people who approved this glass monster need a slap on the back of the head and a dunce hat. Its outright ugly. Really. Its about the ugliest monument I’ve ever seen. Materials wise mostly. The glass sucks. It’s transparent for fucks sake, makes the whole thing just fade into the background and the embedded lights at night make it tacky. Its a memorial for a war that happened about 90 years ago. A statue that yells “–MODERN ART, SEE IT HERE!” just does not fit.

But sitting in that same bus I heard something else. A man with a little girl was sitting next to me. The girl was perhaps 5 or so. She looked at it. She remembered what it was called, sort of, and asked daddy about it humorously saying it wrong (she called it “sammal” meaning moss, instead of using the word “sammas” for column or monument). It was interesting to listen the dad, not much older than I am, explaining to the kid about Estonia’s War of Independence and that the monument was for people who died in it. Listening to that conversation nearly redeemed the monster in my eyes(not the designers and not the approving committee, mind you). Its important to have something that kids can ask about. That is the way a nations memory of its past is preserved, through kids asking and parents telling, and not just schoolbooks.

EDIT: Here’s a look at it, if you dont believe me.