What is a monument?

mon·u·ment (mny-mnt)
(Architecture, Law)
n.
1. A structure, such as a building or sculpture, erected as a memorial.
2. An inscribed marker placed at a grave; a tombstone.
3. Something venerated for its enduring historic significance or association with a notable past person or thing: the architectural monuments of ancient Rome; traditions that are monuments to an earlier era.
4.
a. An outstanding enduring achievement: a translation that is a monument of scholarship.
b. An exceptional example: "Thousands of them wrote texts, some of them monuments of dullness" Robert L. Heilbroner.
5. An object, such as a post or stone, fixed in the ground so as to mark a boundary or position.
6. A written document, especially a legal one.

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[Middle English, from Latin monumentum, memorial, from monre, to remind; see men-1 in Indo-European roots.]