Tag:historic=monument

Description

A memorial object, which is especially large, built to remember, show respect to a person or group of people or to commemorate an event.

Rendering in OSM Carto

Group: historic

Used on these elements

Useful combination

name=*

How to map

Place a node at the centre or draw a way around the outline of the building.

Tags used in combination

name=* - the name of the monument
historic:civilization=* - the civilization (culture) that created the monument
height=* - height
material=* - building material
architect=* - architect name
monument=statue - specifies a monument as a statue
start_date=* - inauguration date.
wikidata=* - the ID of the specific Wikidata item about the monument
subject:wikidata=* - the ID of the Wikidata item about the person, group, or event, commemorated
heritage=* - if the building is recognized as being of historic value by an authority

Similar tags

historic=memorial - Much like a monument, but smaller. Might range from a WWII memorial to a simple plate on a wall.
man_made=obelisk - Tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which usually ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top.
tourism=artwork for public art

Warnings

If the building commemorates nothing then you should use another value of the historic=* (see "Historical objects") or use historic=yes.
If it commemorates something/somebody and one can't tell it's "monumental" in size then it shouldn't be tagged as a monument but as a historic=memorial.
Don't trust the names:
- Some small structures are called "xxx monument" but should be tagged as historic=memorial.
- Some big structures are called "xxx memorial" but should be tagged as historic=monument.
In many countries this tag is very disruptive because the words "historic" and "monument" are associated to designate a national heritage building. It's true for France, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Spain and certainly other countries. This leads to errors : people use this tag to map heritage objects that commemorate nothing.
You can check the inappropriate use of "historic=monument" with the tool "CheckTheMonuments" and correct the errors if you have the knowledge about the objects.
The size matters for the determination of a "monument" in OpenStreetMap
With the height it could be interesting to look at the width and the area occupied.
A "monument" may not be necessarily very high but still monumental if we take into account its other dimensions.
For natural monuments use denotation=natural_monument
A "boundary monument" is a type of geodetic monument, a man_made=survey_point. They do not commemorate people or events.

Examples

You'll find below some objects that are really "monuments" as described in OpenStreetMap.

The height is specified in meters (without the pedestal for statues).

Triumphal arches	Buildings	Mounds	Columns
Monument to the Révolution (67 m) Arc de Triomphe (49.5 m) Patuxai (47 m) Arcade du Cinquantenaire (45 m) Arch of Constantine (21.1 m) ...	Panthéon (83 m) Jefferson Memorial (39 m) Lincoln Memorial (30 m) Walhalla (21 m) ...	Lion's Mound (43 m) Kościuszko Mound (35.5 m) Piłsudski's Mound (35 m) Union of Lublin Mound (29 m) ...	Berlin Victory Column (67 m) Nelson's Column (51.6 m) July Column (50.5 m) Congress Column (47 m) Marquis of Pombal Statue (40 m) Holy Trinity Column (35 m) ...
Crosses	Obelisks	Sculptures	Statues
Valle de los Caídos (150 m) Mount Samat National Shrine (95 m) Third Millenium Cross (83 m) Cristo de Chiapas (62.3 m) ...	San Jacinto Monument (172.9 m) Obelisco de Buenos Aires (67 m) Wellington Monument (62 m) Lateran Obelisk (32.1 m) Obelisk of Axum (24 m) ...	To the Struggle Against World Terrorism (33 m) Das Geleucht (28 m) Stone Flower (sculpture) (24 m) International Ténérife Mémorial (18 m) ...	Statue of Unity (182 m) Laykyun Sekkya (115.8 m) The Motherland Calls (85 m) Lord Murugan Statue (42.7 m) Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue (30 m) ...
Structures	Towers
Monument to the Conquerors of Space (110 m) Monument to the Battle of the Nations (91 m) Kyffhäuser Monument (81 m) Monument of Niederwald (38 m) ...	Interallied Memorial Tower [fr] (75 m) Wallace Monument (67 m) Azadi Tower (45 m) Scrabo Tower (41 m) Edison Tower (40.8 m) Keney Tower (40 m) ...