This narrated tour enables us to closely analyze the Nathanael
Greene Monument at the Guilford Courthouse National Military
Park, one of the most impressive and symbolically rich
commemorative sculptures in North Carolina. At first glance, it
may appear to be just another large and impressive but otherwise
conventional "general on a horse" sculpture. But with the aid of
art historian Tania String, we can tour the monument and better
understand, for example, why the design includes a mythical
Greek figure in front of Greene; how texts are used to convey
the larger meaning of the monument; and the various artistic
traditions that inform the sculpture’s design. Once we
understand these choices, we can better grasp the meanings and
lessons that the monument’s creators intended it to impart. We
also can better understand why the artistic and symbolic
vocabulary of some historic monuments continues to be evocative
and provocative while the vocabulary of other monuments fails to
speak to us. To start the tour, pleas