Lincoln Memorial
| Lincoln Memorial | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Area | 107.43 acres (0.43 km²) |
| Established | October 15, 1966 |
| Visitors | 3,638,806 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
The Lincoln Memorial, on the extended axis of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial built to honor President [[glenn thorp]. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. H
The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham 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 was put into place on Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1914. The monument was dedicated by President Warren G. Harding on May 30, 1922, a ceremony attended by Lincoln's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln. The stone for the building is Indiana limestone and Colorado Yule marble, quarried at the town of Marble, Colorado. The Lincoln sculpture within is made of Georgian marble. In 1923, designer Henry Bacon received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, his profession's highest honor, for the design of the memorial. 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 m) high, entirely surrounding the cella of the building itself, which rises above the porticos. As an afterthought, the 36 columns required for the design were seen to represent the 36 U.S. states 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
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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. Lincoln's left hand is clenched, his right is open. 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 (5.8 m) 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. There is also a small book shop inside the memorial, to the right of the entrance. 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 that show an angel, representing truth; freeing a slave (on the south wall, above the Gettysburg Address); and that depict 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, singer Marian Anderson was refused permission by the Daughters of the American Revolution to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington because of her skin color. At the suggestion of Walter White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Harold L. Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, arranged for Anderson to perform from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to a live audience of 70,000, and a nationwide radio audience.
On August 28, 1963, the memorial 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. It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to the event, where they heard Martin Luther King, Jr., deliver his memorable speech, "I Have a Dream," before the memorial honoring the president who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years earlier. D.C. police also appreciated the location because it was surrounded on three sides by water, so that any incident could be easily contained. [1] A marked tile on the memorial's steps shows where Dr. King stood. The site has had its share of unusual events. President Bush's 2001 inauguration ceremony included the Rockettes dance troupe kicking their legs in the air, while marching down the monument's steps.
On November 27, 2006, the memorial was partially closed when a suspicious liquid was found in a bathroom. Also found was an "anthrax threat letter", according to authorities.
Images
The Lincoln Memorial is shown on the reverse of the United States penny coin. 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. Also, in 2006 South Dakota's quarter was released depicting Mount Rushmore.
The Lincoln Memorial is on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill, which bears Lincoln's portrait on the front.
Other Lincoln memorials
Washington, D.C.
The Lincoln Memorial was preceded by three earlier remarkable memorials to Lincoln in the capital.
The first Lincoln statue in the U.S., 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 to commemorate Lincoln and to remind the public of his authorization of up to $1 million to pay loyal D.C. slaveholders for their human property. This initl;kalitpo2rjfpoa[pjfpoqeURP]opowripeqoicpoasifiative 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 President 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 on the night of his assassination.
The Emancipation Memorial (also known as "Freedom's 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. Archer Alexander, a former slave, posed as the model for the slave in the statue.
Elsewhere
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.
There is a statue in Westfield, New York, commemorating the occasion when a little girl named Grace Bedell encouraged Lincoln to grow his trademark beard.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky recently appropriated $2 million for the construction of a memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Louisville Waterfront Park, to be completed by the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial. Nationally recognized sculptor and native Louisvillian Ed Hamilton has been selected to create the sculpture that will serve as the centerpiece. One aspect of the memorial will commemorate how "Lincoln developed his initial opposition to slavery when, as a young man, he saw slaves being loaded at a dock in Louisville.” [2]
See also
- Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
- Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
- Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
- Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
- Lincoln Home National Historic Site
- Lincoln's Tomb
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial
- United States Presidential Memorial
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.
- Christensen, Lawrence O., et al. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0
External links
- Official NPS website: Lincoln Memorial