Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial, on the extended axis of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial built for United States President Abraham Lincoln.

The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple, and contains a large seated sculpture of Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, 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.

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. 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, 1914. 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. 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 temple. It is 'peripteral,' with 36 massive columns, each 33 feet (10 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

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 City in a studio in the Bronx 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:

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

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'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; 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

The Lincoln Memorial is shown on the reverse of the United States 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. This held true until 1999 when the New Jersey state quarter was released depicting George Washington crossing the Delaware River on its reverse. Another upcoming incident will occur in 2006 when South Dakota's quarter is released, depicting Mount Rushmore.

The Lincoln Memorial is on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill|$5 bill" target="_blank" >^*, 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 in Chicago.

In popular culture

In the final scene of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, Charlton Heston's character famously realizes he has been on Earth the entire time when he discovers the Statue of Liberty buried on a beach. For the 2001 remake, Tim Burton chose to use the Lincoln Memorial instead. However, an additional twist was added: the apes and humans learn to live together peacefully and Mark Wahlberg's character returns to Earth, where his vessel crash-lands in front of the Lincoln Memorial — or rather, a similar memorial devoted to General Thade, the exiled villain. With Thade's head replacing Lincoln's, the memorial instead reads:

IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE APES
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE PLANET
THE MEMORY OF GENERAL THADE
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

References

Lincoln Memorial, National Park Service leaflet, GPO:2002—491-282/40182
The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

Official NPS website: Lincoln Memorial

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