The first known reference to the expression "historical monument" dates back to revolutionary France in 1790, when Aubin Louis Millin de Grandmaison, before the National Constituent Assembly, called the Bastille monument historique on the occasion of its demolition. In different European countries, the new use of the concept became academically and technically widespread when addressing the tasks of restoration and rehabilitation of ancient works considered worthy of it. Legally, the concept of "monument" was gradually established in each country, throughout the century and the beginning of the 19th century, first by generic appeals to the monumental condition; later with the allocation in the budgets of items for its maintenance and with the appointment of commissions of experts and administration personnel under its care; then for the approval of inventories, records and collections of elements; and, finally, with the promulgation of laws for the protection and declaration of "national monuments" (from 1803 to 1915 in Spain,[9]​ from 1795 to 1887 in France,[10]​ 1906 in the United States,[11]​ 1909 in Italy[12]​). Throughout the first half of the century, most Western countries passed laws for the defense and conservation of their respective heritages.

Since the end of the century, and after the regulation of international regulations on historical heritage, the concept of monument has been extended to the field of nature protection, applying it to those outstanding natural landmarks that, in addition to being remembered, deserve to be protected (natural monuments, natural spaces of special value); and works of scientific and technical interest[13].

The peoples of the Ancient Near East erected steles "Stele (monument)") commemorating their victories. Similar monuments from pre-Columbian America, such as the Mayan stelae, could have had a similar function.

It was the custom of the ancient Greeks to erect monuments after a military victory with the spoils of the defeated, piling up their weapons, which were called τρόπαιον tropaion (derived from tropé -retreat or defeat-), in Latin tropaeum") or trophaeum") (from which the Spanish word trophy is derived).[15] They were also carried as offerings. to the temples. After the battle of Marathon, as a special honor, the dead of the winning side (the Greeks over the Persians) were buried in a mound in which painted vessels and the column called Callimachus of Aphidnas have been found. Alexander the Great ordered Lysippus to erect the so-called Granicus monument to honor the Greeks who fell in the homonymous battle, in addition to giving three hundred Persian armors to the Parthenon in Athens as a trophy.[16]

To celebrate the triumphs granted by the Roman Senate as honor to the victorious generals, triumphal arches were erected which, unlike the triumphal columns, did not have the character of funerary monuments.

In the Contemporary Age, monuments to the unknown soldier are common, often coinciding with a burial place.

Alois Riegl, in his book The modern cult of monuments (Der Moderne Denkmalkultus,[20]​ published in 1903, when the author was president of the Commission for Historical Monuments of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), understands as a characteristic of modernity the valuation and conservation of monuments, beyond their commemorative meaning, by the modern "will to form" (kunstwollen, concept of the "formalism" of the Viennese school of art history).[21]​ The historical value of the monuments lies in their contradiction: on the one hand, they are the object of recognition for coming from and surviving a bygone era, perhaps very remote, but, at the same time, this character implies greater care than other constructions, which is why they are preserved in a special way.

[22]​.

The "reproduction" of monuments is a disputed aesthetic criterion (pejoratively called pastiche), but it has precedents since classical antiquity itself (the Romans imitated the Greek models, and as for the most important sculptural works, they copied and reproduced them, often converting the original bronzes to marble);[23]​ and it is common in current theme parks and Las Vegas casinos. On a small scale, reproductions of monuments such as Tourist souvenirs are a topic of popular culture.

It is also the name of several documentary compilations with historiographic criteria.

The first known reference to the expression "historical monument" dates back to revolutionary France in 1790, when Aubin Louis Millin de Grandmaison, before the National Constituent Assembly, called the Bastille monument historique on the occasion of its demolition. In different European countries, the new use of the concept became academically and technically widespread when addressing the tasks of restoration and rehabilitation of ancient works considered worthy of it. Legally, the concept of "monument" was gradually established in each country, throughout the century and the beginning of the 19th century, first by generic appeals to the monumental condition; later with the allocation in the budgets of items for its maintenance and with the appointment of commissions of experts and administration personnel under its care; then for the approval of inventories, records and collections of elements; and, finally, with the promulgation of laws for the protection and declaration of "national monuments" (from 1803 to 1915 in Spain,[9]​ from 1795 to 1887 in France,[10]​ 1906 in the United States,[11]​ 1909 in Italy[12]​). Throughout the first half of the century, most Western countries passed laws for the defense and conservation of their respective heritages.

Since the end of the century, and after the regulation of international regulations on historical heritage, the concept of monument has been extended to the field of nature protection, applying it to those outstanding natural landmarks that, in addition to being remembered, deserve to be protected (natural monuments, natural spaces of special value); and works of scientific and technical interest[13].

The peoples of the Ancient Near East erected steles "Stele (monument)") commemorating their victories. Similar monuments from pre-Columbian America, such as the Mayan stelae, could have had a similar function.

It was the custom of the ancient Greeks to erect monuments after a military victory with the spoils of the defeated, piling up their weapons, which were called τρόπαιον tropaion (derived from tropé -retreat or defeat-), in Latin tropaeum") or trophaeum") (from which the Spanish word trophy is derived).[15] They were also carried as offerings. to the temples. After the battle of Marathon, as a special honor, the dead of the winning side (the Greeks over the Persians) were buried in a mound in which painted vessels and the column called Callimachus of Aphidnas have been found. Alexander the Great ordered Lysippus to erect the so-called Granicus monument to honor the Greeks who fell in the homonymous battle, in addition to giving three hundred Persian armors to the Parthenon in Athens as a trophy.[16]

To celebrate the triumphs granted by the Roman Senate as honor to the victorious generals, triumphal arches were erected which, unlike the triumphal columns, did not have the character of funerary monuments.

In the Contemporary Age, monuments to the unknown soldier are common, often coinciding with a burial place.

Alois Riegl, in his book The modern cult of monuments (Der Moderne Denkmalkultus,[20]​ published in 1903, when the author was president of the Commission for Historical Monuments of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), understands as a characteristic of modernity the valuation and conservation of monuments, beyond their commemorative meaning, by the modern "will to form" (kunstwollen, concept of the "formalism" of the Viennese school of art history).[21]​ The historical value of the monuments lies in their contradiction: on the one hand, they are the object of recognition for coming from and surviving a bygone era, perhaps very remote, but, at the same time, this character implies greater care than other constructions, which is why they are preserved in a special way.

[22]​.

The "reproduction" of monuments is a disputed aesthetic criterion (pejoratively called pastiche), but it has precedents since classical antiquity itself (the Romans imitated the Greek models, and as for the most important sculptural works, they copied and reproduced them, often converting the original bronzes to marble);[23]​ and it is common in current theme parks and Las Vegas casinos. On a small scale, reproductions of monuments such as Tourist souvenirs are a topic of popular culture.

It is also the name of several documentary compilations with historiographic criteria.