Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial, on the extended axis of the National Mall in Washington, DC, is a memorial to United States President Abraham Lincoln. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple, and contains a large seated sculpture of Lincoln. The memorial has been the site of many speeches, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream", delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Design and construction

The Lincoln Monument Association was incorporated by the United States Congress in March 1867 to build a memorial to Lincoln. Little progress was made until the site was chosen in 1901, in an area that was swampland, and the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial was not put into place until Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1915. The monument was dedicated by Warren G. Harding on May 30, 1922, attended by the former President's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln. It won for its architect, the prominent Beaux-Arts designer Henry Bacon, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, his profession's highest honor, presented at the Monument in 1923. The stone for the building is Indiana limestone and Colorado Yule marble, quarried at the town of Marble, Colorado. The sculpture itself is made of Georgia marble.

Related Topics:
Incorporated - United States Congress - 1867 - 1901 - February 12 - 1915 - Warren G. Harding - May 30 - 1922 - Robert Todd Lincoln - Beaux-Arts - Henry Bacon - American Institute of Architects - 1923 - Indiana - Limestone - Colorado - Marble - Marble, Colorado - Georgia

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Standing apart from the somewhat triumphal and Roman manner of most of Washington, the memorial takes the severe form of a Greek Doric temple. It is 'peripteral,' with 36 massive columns, each 10 metres (33 feet) high, entirely surrounding the cella of the building itself, which rises above the porticos. Five adults holding hands cannot quite embrace the columns. By a happy afterthought, the 36 columns required for the design were seen to represent the 36 states of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death, and their names were inscribed in the entablature above each column. The names of the 48 states of the Union when the Memorial was completed are carved on the exterior attic walls, and a later plaque commemmorates the admission of Alaska and Hawaii.

Related Topics:
Doric - Columns - Metre - Feet - Cella - States of the Union - Entablature - Alaska - Hawaii

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