What makes a monument? This podcast series explores how places can take on a multitude of meanings for different people over time. Each episode spotlights a unique monument to trace the many lives of a single space.
Originally conceived in 2021, The Monument Biography podcast is a public history project based in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.
When a new art installation called the Portal was unveiled at Philadelphia’s City Hall in October 2024, people didn’t really know at first what to make of it. In this episode, Producer Dilcia Martinez explains how the Portal works in real time to connect people from different parts of the world, from Dublin to Manila. She asks the question—what even is the Portal? Is it a work of art? A monument? Compared to other sculptures and memorials around City Hall, recent installations like the Portal challenge the idea of what a monument is, to the point of asking whether we even need commemorative structures at all. In a city known for its strong identity and even stronger opinions, The Portal disrupts traditional ideas of monuments as fixed symbols of power and instead functions as a living, participatory space shaped by everyday people. Ultimately, it asks not what monuments remember, but what they do.
17 Sept 2026
Announcing Monument Biography Season 2
Monument Biography returns for a second season! We will be visiting a host of new sites and ephemeral spaces around Philadelphia and beyond. And that's not all! We also revisit some monuments and stories from last season.
The new season begins October 5th.
Visit us at stellaonline.art/monument-bio (https://www.stellaonline.art/monument-bio)
24 Feb 2022
Monument Biography, Episode 10 - Episode 10: Two Starchitects Walk into a Synagogue...
In the middle of the 20th century, two prominent Jewish communities in Philadelphia undertook major building projects in order to grow their congregations. Producer Ari Lipkis discusses how the leadership of both groups decided to recruit the top talent in modern architecture for these projects: the congregation of Beth Sholom hired Frank Lloyd Wright in 1953 to construct a massive synagogue in the suburbs, and some years later Mikveh Israel sought out Louis I. Kahn to design an innovative new building that was to be located in the historical heart of Philadelphia, a nod to the congregation’s ties to the American Revolution. While Wright’s building was eventually completed, Kahn’s ambitious project never got off the ground. These two examples highlight the potential successes—and pitfalls—of engaging individuals whom we could today describe as some of the first “starchitects” in the United States.
10 Jan 2022
Monument Biography, Episode 9 - Heroes or Highwaymen?
No one really knows what happened on the morning of September 23, 1780, but the aftermath changed the entire course of the American fight for independence. In this episode, producer Molly Bernhard will be discussing the famous capture of Major John André, a British spy, by a group of Americans in Tarrytown, New York. The subsequent monument that was created to commemorate the event honors and glorifies the captors. Historians likewise argue that André’s arrest saved the fate of the Continental Army and the American cause. We take a deeper dive into the stories of the captors and consider whether or not they were in fact the heroes that subsequent generations have made them out to be.
10 Jan 2022
Monument Biography, Episode 8 - The Masonic Temple of Philadelphia
The Masonic Temple of Philadelphia was constructed in 1873 and today stands at the center of town, directly across the street from City Hall. Producer Nonna Batrakova examines the remarkable diversity of architectural styles that served as inspiration for the design of the Grand Lodge. Within the building, we focus on the interior decoration of four grand halls, each respectively named after the civilization or style evoked in the room’s furniture and wall ornamentation, such as Egyptian or Corinthian Hall. A number of interviews explore the monument’s history and reveal the significance of this lodge to its current Freemason members.
10 Jan 2022
Monument Biography, Episode 7 - Stories of the Galata Tower
The Galata Tower in Istanbul stands as one of the most iconic monuments in the city’s skyline. It was recently reopened as a museum after several months of restoration. Producer Özlem Yıldız traces the many lives of the tower through the centuries, from a fire station to an astronomical observatory. By following the recent change in its status and speaking with different stakeholders about the restoration process, we touch on wider debates about politics and cultural heritage in today’s Turkey.
10 Jan 2022
Monument Biography, Episode 6 - Philadelphia's First Skyscraper
Philadelphia City Hall has been a symbol of the city since its construction at the turn of the century. Producer Kendra Schmit dives into the history of the building and explores how its architectural style actually fell out of fashion rather quickly. Despite this, for over eight decades there was a mandate that no building in Philadelphia could be taller than the William Penn statue topping City Hall, so this heart of the municipal government played a crucial role in shaping the skyline of Philadelphia. Alongside the Liberty Bell and a well-crafted cheesesteak, City Hall stands as a true monument from the City of Brotherly Love.
Fairfield Hills Hospital stands as a commanding presence in Newtown, Connecticut, a small New England town that unfortunately came into the national spotlight with the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This episode takes a deeper look at Newtown’s history through Fairfield Hills, which was built in 1931 as a psychiatric hospital and functioned as such until 1995. It remained unoccupied until 2005, when the town bought the property from the state and tore down several of the hospital’s more derelict buildings and refurbished or rebuilt others. Producer Michael Lally investigates the early years of the hospital, the decade of abandonment that drew urban explorers and ghost hunters, and finally contemporary debates about the town’s “Master Plan” for the site. The story of Fairfield Hills prompts us to consider how a community negotiates and experiences the ghosts of a monument’s troubled past.
In this episode, producer Nicole Emser Marcel asks: How can artists intervene in or mediate an existing monument? And could these interventions bring about long-term change? To answer these questions, two very different sites are explored from opposite sides of the Atlantic: Tony Oursler’s artist installation at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam (2014-15) and Dustin Klein and Alex Criqui’s impromptu projections on the Robert E. Lee Memorial in Richmond, Virginia during the summer of 2020.
29 Nov 2021
Monument Biography, Episode 3 - The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship
The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a Sufi Muslim community located just outside of Philadelphia. The Fellowship, named after its Sri Lankan founder, was established in the 1970s after he visited the United States. The community is distinctive in that it is vegetarian, draws from Vedic spirituality, and encourages women to take central leadership positions. Producer Michael Ernst meets with Sheikha Maryam Kabeer, the public face of the Fellowship, and Muhammad Abdur-Razzaq, the imam of the mosque. A visit to the Fellowship reveals that the real monument to Bawa Muhaiyaddeen is not the building that houses the community’s various activities, but in fact the community itself.
19 Nov 2021
Monument Biography, Episode 2 - Gettysburg: The Good, the Bad, and the Enigmatic
In this episode, producer Sara Potts investigates multiple overlapping histories at Gettysburg National Military Park: from the official account of the National Park Service to the long ignored African American presence at the site. Through a number of interviews, we reflect on the potential for memory and remembrance at a monument that comprises an entire landscape—the site of the most famous battle of the American Civil War. With Gettysburg continuing to be contested and negotiated in today’s political environment, how do we grapple with and represent conflicting histories in a way that is compelling and constructive?
10 Nov 2021
Monument Biography, Episode 1 - The Bride Who Tried to Sell Her Skin
The Painted Bride Art Center has long stood as a cultural monument in the city of Philadelphia. In this episode, Alexa Smith traces the Bride’s longer history, as well as the recent controversy around its sale. Through a series of interviews with different stakeholders, we explore conflicting attitudes between the local community and the organization itself on what it means to “save the Bride" when the building's future is jeopardized.
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