1. HUMANISM CENTERED EDUCATION FOR A PEACEFUL EUROPE
Langenselbold - Germania
25-31 marzo 2017
Discovering the effects of art in shaping social values and
inter-cultural dialogue through art

2. The War Memorial in Como
The War Memorial in Como, like other fascist monuments is enormous, a very visible element and recognizable from afar. Its extreme monumentality and dimensions had the purpose to exalt and praise the sacrifice of so many young soldiers that died in the First World War and express the power of fascist government as it was inaugurated for the visit of Mussolini in Como.

3. The War Memorial in Como looks like an imposing 33 meters high tower, resting on a massive pedestal; it has large windows and seems soaring into the sky. Inside the monument there is the Shrine of the Fallen, occupied by an imposing white granite block on which were engraved the names of 750 soldiers that died in the first World War and some of the Second War while a staircase from the right side of the Shrine leads to the crypt, which houses the altar and the ossuary.

4. The Memorial was first designed by a Futurist architect that died in the war battle. The architect Giuseppe Terragni completed the project agreeing to respect the most of the original design but he removed all decoration. Therefore the monument can be interpreted in contradiction to the fascist ideas: war is something abnormal but it causes death for no reasons. (The hollow void of the large windows may express the hollowness of war.)The work was completed in 1933, with a grand opening on November 4, the anniversary of the end in victory for Italy, the Great War. Nowadays it can be regarded as a warning to avoid the horrors of war.