Monuments of the Future – But Which Ones?
Creative workshop for children and families with the Monumental Bag on the occasion of the Open Monument Day
© Adrian Lück
On 14 September 2025, for the Open Monument Day, we invited visitors to Neustädter Markt to explore together what stories monuments tell – and what questions they pose to us today.
Our starting point was the war memorial in front of the Holy Cross Church on Neustädter Markt in Leipzig. Ceremoniously unveiled in 1926, it was intended to commemorate the 725 members of the Kreuzkirche congregation who died in the First World War. Today, the memorial evokes a broad range of reactions. Its historical significance between the two world wars, as well as its contemporary relevance and impact, are assessed in very different ways.
Looking beyond the memorial itself, our creative workshop asked:
What do monuments mean in our society?
Which stories are still missing?
And what might the monuments of the future look like?
With the Monumental Bag, designed by Martha Schwindling and Marlene Oeken, visitors could gather new ideas for Monument Day. The set encouraged observation of the surroundings, critical reflection on remembrance, and the discovery of gaps in historical representation. It was developed to invite young people to look at monuments anew, ask questions, and design their own monument concepts.
