Communication in Media and Society
DOI 10.55206/WSZB4576
Damyan Bumbalov
St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo
E-mail: balldecor@abv. bg
Abstract: The present study examines the concept of “monumental sculpture” as a specific form of communication within public space and traces the transformations of its meaning across historical, social, political, and artistic contexts. The research employs desk research to examine changes in the content and scope of the concept of “monumental sculpture” within both international and Bulgarian scholarly traditions, as well as chronological analysis in art history, which is particularly appropriate for investigating the development of sculpture in public space across different historical periods. The analytical hypothesis is grounded in the understanding that monumentality cannot be reduced solely to the physical scale or memorial function of a work. Three principal dimensions of monumentality in sculpture are distinguished: monumentality as social and thematic significance; monumentality as a generic and spatial category; and monumentality as a characteristic of sculptural form. The findings point towards the emergence of a new field of inquiry in which sculpture, public space, visuality and communication, as well as cultural and artistic events, intersect, thereby opening up a productive perspective for interdisciplinary research.
Keywords: monumental sculpture; monumentality; public space; sculpture and architecture; collective memory; national identity; symposium sculpture; counter-monument
Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 69, October 2026
