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Lincoln memorial
*** Shopping-Tip: Lincoln memorial
{{Infobox_protected_area | name = Lincoln Memorial
| iucn_category = V
| image = US_Locator_Blank.svg
| caption =
| locator_x = 240
| locator_y = 76
| location =
Washington, D.C.,
United States USA
| nearest_city =
| lat_degrees = 38
| lat_minutes = 53
| lat_seconds = 22
| lat_direction = N
| long_degrees = 77
| long_minutes = 3
| long_seconds = 1
| long_direction = W
| area = 107.43 acres (0.43 km²)
| established =
May 30,
1922
| visitation_num = 3,638,806
| visitation_year = 2005
| governing_body =
National Park Service
}}
The '''Lincoln Memorial''', on the extended axis of the
The Mall (Washington, DC) National Mall in
Washington, D.C., is a
United States Presidential Memorial built for
United States President of the United States President Abraham Lincoln.
Image:lincoln_memorial_dc_20041011_095847_1.3008x2000.jpg thumb|240px|left|The Lincoln Memorial, built 1915 - 1922
The building is in the form of a Greek
Doric order 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.
Like the other monuments on the National Mall, including the nearby
Vietnam Veterans Memorial,
Korean War Veterans Memorial, and
National World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial is administered by the
National Park Service under its
National Mall and Memorial Parks group. The
National Memorial was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places on
October 15,
1966. It is open to the public from 8 a.m. until midnight all year, except
December 25.
Image:Lincoln Memorial overhead.jpg thumb|right|290px|Aerial view of the Lincoln Memorial.
Design and construction
Image:Bacon'sAIAGold-Medal.jpg Henry Bacon.html" title="Meaning of 180px 180px|right|thumb|Program from AIA Gold Medal Award honoring architect [[Henry Bacon, 1923.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|Program from AIA Gold Medal Award honoring architect [[Henry Bacon">180px|right|thumb|Program from AIA Gold Medal Award honoring architect [[Henry Bacon, 1923">right|thumb|Program from AIA Gold Medal Award honoring architect [[Henry Bacon">180px|right|thumb|Program from AIA Gold Medal Award honoring architect [[Henry Bacon, 1923
The Lincoln Monument Association was
incorporation (business) 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.
United State Congress Congress formally authorized the memorial on
February 9,
1911, 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 architecture 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 (U.S. state) Georgia marble. Originally under the care of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks, it was transferred to the National Park Service on
August 10,
1933.
Standing apart from the somewhat triumphal and Roman manner of most of Washington, the memorial takes the severe form of a Greek
Doric order Doric temple. It is 'peripteral,' with 36 massive
columns, each 33
foot (unit of length) feet (10
metre meters) 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 commemorates the admission of
Alaska and
Hawaii.
Interior
Image:Lincoln_statue.jpg thumbnail|240px|left|The Daniel Chester French sculpture inside the Lincoln Memorial
Image:Lincoln-side.jpg thumbnail|240px|left|A side view of the Daniel Chester French sculpture inside the Lincoln Memorial
The focus of the memorial is
Daniel Chester French's sculpture of Lincoln, seated. French studied many of
Mathew Brady's photographs of Lincoln, and depicted the president as worn and pensive, gazing eastwards down the
Reflecting Pool at the capital's starkest
emblem of the Union, the
Washington Monument. On the back of Lincoln's head is rumored to be the faint outline of the face of
Robert E. Lee. Close inspection shows that the outline does not exist. One hand is clenched, the other open. It is said that French, who had a hearing-impaired daughter, carved Lincoln's hands to sign the letters "A" and "L" in
American Sign Language. Beneath his hands, the Roman
fasces,
symbols of the authority of the Republic, are sculpted in relief on the seat. The statue stands 19 feet tall and 19 feet wide, and was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers of
New York from 28 blocks of white Georgia marble.
The central cella is flanked by two others. In one, the
Gettysburg Address is inscribed on its south wall, and in the other,
Lincoln's second inaugural address is inscribed on its north wall. In the first column of Lincoln's second inaugural address, the word "future" is misspelled, reading "euture." Above the text of these speeches are a series of murals by
Jules Guerin showing an angel, representing truth, freeing a slave (on the south wall, above the Gettysburg Address), and the unity of the American North and South (above the Second Inaugural Address). On the wall behind the statue, visible over the statue's head, is this dedication:
{|align=left style="margin-left:60px;font-size:80%"
|''IN THIS TEMPLE''
|-
|''AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE''
|-
|''FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION''
|-
|''THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN''
|-
|''IS ENSHRINED FOREVER''
|}
Events
Image:1963 march lincoln memorial.jpg American_Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) thumb|200px|right|[[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights March on
Washington, D.C. Washington,
August 28,
1963.html" title="Meaning of Civil Rights March.html" title="Meaning of thumb|200px|right|[[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights March">thumb|200px|right|[[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights March on
Washington, D.C. Washington,
August 28,
1963">Civil Rights March.html" title="Meaning of thumb|200px|right|[[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights March">thumb|200px|right|[[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|Civil Rights March on
Washington, D.C. Washington,
August 28,
1963
Image:WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.jpg National World War II Memorial.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|200px|The Lincoln Memorial seen through the [[National World War II Memorial.html" title="Meaning of 200px|The Lincoln Memorial seen through the [[National World War II Memorial">thumb|200px|The Lincoln Memorial seen through the [[National World War II Memorial">200px|The Lincoln Memorial seen through the [[National World War II Memorial">thumb|200px|The Lincoln Memorial seen through the [[National World War II Memorial
In
1939, the singer
Marian Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington because of her skin color.
Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to a live audience of 70,000, and a nationwide radio audience. (It was a very successful performance.)
On
August 28,
1963, the monument grounds were the site of one of the greatest political rallies in American history, the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which proved to be a high point of the
American Civil Rights Movement. Numerous speeches have been given in front of the building, including
Martin Luther King, Jr Martin Luther King's greatest, "
I Have a Dream". It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to witness this speech and that the crowd stretched back to the entrance of the present World War II Memorial. A marked tile on the memorial's steps shows where Dr. King stood. A counter-demonstration to the speech took place as well. George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party, led a small but vocal contingent of about 100 protesters who claimed that civil rights for blacks would lead to violence against and disenfranchisement of White people.
The site has had its share of unusual events;
George W. Bush President Bush's 2001 inauguration ceremony included dance troupe
The Rockettes kicking their legs in the air, while marching down the monument's steps.
Images of the memorial
Image:20050228 200242 1 revers lincoln.999x989.jpg 70px|left|thumb|The Lincoln Memorial on a U.S. penny.
Image:US $5 reverse.jpg 180px|right|thumb|The Lincoln Memorial on a $5 bill.
The Lincoln Memorial is shown on the reverse of the United States
Penny (U.S. coin) penny. In his treatise ''Theory and Practise of Numismatic Design'', Steve Crooks states that because the Lincoln Memorial is shown in sufficient detail to discern the statue of Lincoln on the reverse of the penny, Abraham Lincoln is the only person to be depicted on both the obverse and reverse of the same United States coin.
The Lincoln Memorial is on the back of the U.S.
American five dollar bill $5 bill, which bears Lincoln's portrait on the front.
Other Lincoln memorials in Washington, D.C.
The Lincoln Memorial was preceded by three earlier remarkable memorials to Lincoln in the capital.
The first Lincoln statue in the US, in front of what was the first City Hall (D street) was unveiled on
April 15,
1868, the third anniversary of Lincoln's death, by his successor,
Andrew Johnson. It was paid for by the citizens of Washington, D.C.
Lot Flannery, the Irish sculptor, claimed he knew Lincoln and was present at the theatre when Lincoln was assassinated. The memorial was meant not only to commemorate Lincoln but remind the public of his authorization of up to $1 million to pay loyal D.C. slaveholders for their human property. This initiative reflected Lincoln's need to balance the drive towards the end of
slavery with his dependency on the loyalty of the citizens of D.C. to the Union. The statue was taken down in 1919, but was restored to its original location after considerable controversy in 1923.
A Lincoln statue was dedicated inside the
Rotunda of the
United States Capitol on
January 25,
1871, in the presence of
Ulysses S. Grant. While still a teenager, sculptress
Vinnie Ream began preliminary sketches of Lincoln during the last five months of his life. She became the first woman to receive a commission from Congress to create a statue for the Rotunda. To accurately render the statue's garments, she borrowed the clothes Lincoln wore the night of his assassination.
The "Emancipation Memorial" (
1876) in Lincoln Park on
Capitol Hill portrays a kneeling man representing the last man captured under the
Fugitive Slave Law, who snaps slavery's chains as Lincoln proffers the
Emancipation Proclamation. Freed black slaves raised all the funds to erect it. The initiative came from
Charlotte Scott, of Virginia, who donated the first $5 she earned as a free American.
Other memorials to Lincoln
There is a statue to Lincoln located in London's Parliament Square. It is a replica of the statue created by
Augustus Saint-Gaudens for the dedication of
Lincoln Park, Chicago Lincoln Park in
Chicago.
See also
{{Commons|Lincoln Memorial}}
*
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
*
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
*
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
*
Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
*
Lincoln's Tomb
*
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
*
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
*
United States Presidential Memorial
References
*''Lincoln Memorial'', National Park Service leaflet, GPO:2002—491-282/40182
* ''The National Parks: Index 2001–2003''. Washington:
United States Department of the Interior U.S. Department of the Interior.
External links
* Official NPS website: [http://www.nps.gov/linc/ Lincoln Memorial]
-
360 degree Virtual Tour
-
Photo Collections of Lincoln Memorial
{{Geolinks-US-buildingscale|38.88923|-77.05033}}
'''Note:''' According to
Google Earth, the Lincoln Memorial is in western
Tibet. This is not correct.
Category:1922 establishments
Category:Abraham Lincoln
Category:American architecture
Category:Buildings and monuments honoring American Presidents Lincoln Memorial
Category:Memorials in Washington, D.C.
Category:National Mall
Category:National Memorials of the United States
Category:Registered Historic Places in the District of Columbia
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see
Lincoln Memorial
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