<p>"The fissures that lined its sides and the size distinguished it from many others; those whose extreme lavishness mocked the purpose of their existence." </p>
<p>"It" is referring to a honorary monument</p>
<p>Is this grammatically acceptable?</p>
<p>and can "whose" be used to describe inanimate objects?</p>
<p>Both sentences are extremely awkward… and way to many pronouns that appear ambigious.</p>
<p>Really? Awkward? How so?</p>
<p>Second sentence has ambigious pronouns or makes no sense.</p>
<p>The last half is not a sentence. Grammatically incorrect.</p>
<p>You need an independent clause after the semicolon. Also, the first clause is probably technically fine, but it reads like crap. It’s a compound subject, but the first part is modified extensively, and the second part is simply a noun standing alone.</p>