Nationalism was built through ideas and action but also in stone. The National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II in Rome (bottom) and the Battle of the Nations Monument in Leipzig, Germany (top), are just two of the many buildings, monuments, and statues erected around 1900 to represent the glory of the nation-state and its people. Inaugurated in 1911 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Italian unification and dedicated to Emmanuel II (unified Italy’s first king), the massive neoclassical structure in Rome — nicknamed the “wedding cake” by local wits — features an equestrian statue of Emmanuel above a frieze of the Italian people and an imposing Roman-style colonnade crowned by two triumphal horse-drawn chariots. Inside is a museum dedicated to the history of the Italian military. The Leipzig monument, opened in 1913, pays homage to Prussian victory over Napoleon’s armies on a nearby battlefield in 1813. Made of bulky, dark, and rough-hewn granite, this colossus is anchored by a large statue of the archangel Michael underneath an inscription reading “Gott Mit Uns” (God With Us). Teutonic knights with drawn swords stand watch around the memorial’s crest; inside are somber statues of the Guards of the Dead and a “hall of fame” dedicated to the heroic qualities of the German people.

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