Monuments on city photos. Interaction and confrontation between the past and the present

The paper explores the photos that capture monuments and memorials. A topical issue is the collision of various cultural and temporal layers in the image, as well as the interaction of personal and collective memory, arising as a result of imprinting a person and a monument on a photograph. The aim of the study was to create a typology formulated on the basis of the functions of photographs and their aesthetic characteristics. Each of the types was considered from the point of view of its significance in the culture of memory and in relation to other commemorative practices. Special attention was paid to the touristic photography, acting as a meeting and dialogue of different cultures. The importance of this topic is explained by the active movement of people between cities and countries and the erasure of spatial boundaries in the Internet network, where the bulk of digital photographs circulate. The paper reveals that such images may act as sources of conflict that arises out of the collision of traveler's self-identity and a collective memory of another people. As a result of the study, three main types of images were identified: 1) the monument as an artistic object in the environment, 2) tourist photography, 3) reporting photographs taken during official celebrations. In each case, the imprinting of the monument is subordinated to a specific task. The author comes to the conclusion that photographing monuments meets the needs of secular society in a ritual action expressing respect, attention or interest in relation to an object that preserves the memory of a place, event or person.