In this sense, a 500 years old building doesn’t automatically become a monument. The Monument Protection Authority of a city evaluates a building's historical significance and determines whether it is of public interest worthy of preservation. An interactive map on the City of Berlin’s website reveals all officially recognized monuments in the city, and here are some key takeaways:

1. Monuments come in many forms.
It is further divided into Building (Baudenkmal), Soils/ sites (Bodendenkmal), Gardens (Gartendenkmal), Ensemble Monument (Denkmalbereich Ensemble), structures that are associated with the two World Wars and the Cold War, and of course, the Berlin Wall.

2. Preservation emphasizes appearance.
Monument protection focuses on preserving its visual quality, even if its function has become obsolete.

3. Monuments construct Berlin’s historical narrative.
The decision of which structures to keep and how they are preserved contribute to forming the city’s history and eventually its identity. Some histories are buried or forgotten, while others are celebrated or even capitalized.

Monuments tend to outlast ordinary buildings because they are protected by the Monuments Protection Acts. What makes them even more profound is that they outlive us. Like protagonists in a drama, monuments tell the story of the city, while we - the audience, watch and live within the unfolding scenes.  

P.S. The title Are you a monument? is inspired by this iconic drawing from Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s book, ‘Learning from Las Vegas’ (1972), which refers to a simple structure that uses applied symbols to define itself - the decorated shed.