The Glorification of War: Rome, World War II, and 2007

Proceeding across the stone surface, the viewer arrives at the large, circular stone colonnade, arguably the centerpiece of the space. The circle is sixteen feet in diameter, and the eight granite columns are one hundred and forty feet tall, three feet separating each one from the next.¹ At the top of the structure sits a four-foot-wide “granite capital and cornice,” resulting in a total height of eighteen feet.² Here, an engraving that follows the circular design of the structure says, “WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL RHODE ISLAND.”

Inside, the eight columns feature the different theaters of war where battles took place and where Rhode Islanders fought. Each column has a number: one through eight. A map decorates the granite ground within the colonnade in the style of a Mercator projection.³ On it, the countries are made of reddish material while the water is a marbled gray. Looking closely, one can see small numbers on the map—one through eight—corresponding to the battle locations inscribed on each column. They are rather tiny, seemingly missed by most visitors. I stared at the map, contemplating its purpose, for several minutes before spotting the numerical markers.

This listing of battle locations, coupled with the names of the deceased seen previously on the two granite pylon walls, in many ways mimics the war memorial styles of ancient Greece. The city-state of Athens, in particular, engaged in public funerals, processions, and collective burials for their war dead, culminating in a memorial inscribed with the names of all the men who perished in battle. Pericles' Funeral Oration famously references such practices amidst the Peloponnesian War, a speech he delivered shortly before dying of the plague, which placed Athenians at an extreme disadvantage in the war they eventually lost.⁴

Above the colonnade is open space, a circular window to the sky recalling the ocular effect of the Pantheon in Rome. It also provides no overhead protection from the weather, demonstrating the decorative and artistic nature of the structure. This struck me most acutely on the day I visited the memorial and saw three people experiencing homelessness taking shelter in the colonnade. Small lights dot the ground near the columns, illuminating the map and the engravings at night to make them still readable.