Lincoln Memorial | |
 The Lincoln Memorial in May 2010 | |
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| Location | National Mall,Washington, D.C., U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 38°53′21.4″N77°3′0.5″W / 38.889278°N 77.050139°W /38.889278; -77.050139 |
| Area | 7.29 acres[2] |
| Built | 1922; 104 years ago (1922) |
| Architect | Henry Bacon (architect) Daniel Chester French (sculptor) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival[1] |
| Visitation | 8,099,148 (2023)[3] |
| Website | Lincoln Memorial |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000030[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
TheLincoln Memorial is aU.S. national memorial honoringAbraham Lincoln, the16thpresident of the United States, located on the western end of theNational Mall ofWashington, D.C. The memorial is built in aneoclassical style in the form of a classical temple. The memorial's architect wasHenry Bacon. In 1920,Daniel Chester French designed the large interiorAbraham Lincoln statue, which was carved in marble by thePiccirilli brothers.[4]Jules Guérin painted the interior murals, and the epitaph above the statue was written byRoyal Cortissoz. Dedicated on May 30, 1922, it is one of severalmemorials built to honor an American president. It has been a major tourist attraction since its opening, and over the years, has occasionally been used as a symbolic center focused onrace relations and civil rights.
Doric style columns line the temple exterior, and the inscriptions inside include two well-known speeches by Lincoln, theGettysburg Address, andhis second inaugural address. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, includingMartin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Like other monuments on the National Mall, including the nearbyVietnam Veterans Memorial,Korean War Veterans Memorial, andWorld War II Memorial, thenational memorial is administered by theNational Park Service under itsNational Mall and Memorial Parks group. It has been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966, and was ranked seventh on theAmerican Institute of Architects' 2007 list ofAmerica's Favorite Architecture. The memorial is open to the public 24 hours a day, and more than seven million people visit it annually.[5]
The first public memorial toU.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln inWashington, D.C., wasa statue byLot Flannery erected in front of theDistrict of Columbia City Hall in 1868, three years afterLincoln's assassination in Ford's Theatre.[6][7] Demands for a fitting national memorial had been voiced since the time of Lincoln's death. In 1867,Congress passed the first of many bills incorporating a commission to erect a monument for the sixteenth president. An American sculptor,Clark Mills, was chosen to design the monument. His plans reflected the nationalistic spirit of the time and called for a 70-foot (21 m) structure adorned with six equestrian and 31 pedestrian statues of colossal proportions, crowned by a 12-foot (3.7 m) statue of Abraham Lincoln. Subscriptions for the project were insufficient.[8]
The matter lay dormant until the start of the 20th century, when, under the leadership ofSenatorShelby M. Cullom ofIllinois, six separate bills were introduced in Congress for the incorporation of a new memorial commission. The first five bills, proposed in the years 1901, 1902, and 1908, met with defeat because of opposition from SpeakerJoe Cannon. The sixth bill (Senate Bill 9449), introduced on December 13, 1910, passed. The Lincoln Memorial Commission met for the first time the following year and PresidentWilliam H. Taft was chosen as the commission's president. Progress continued steadily, and in 1913 Congress approved the commission's choice of design and location.[8]
There were questions regarding the commission's plan. Many thought architect Henry Bacon's Greek temple design was far too ostentatious for a man of Lincoln's humble character. Instead, they proposed a simple log cabin shrine. The site too did not go unopposed. The recently reclaimed land inWest Potomac Park was seen by many as either too swampy or too inaccessible. Other sites, such asWashington Union Station, were put forth, but the commission stood firm in its recommendation, feeling that the Potomac Park location, situated on the axis connecting theWashington Monument andCapitol, overlooking thePotomac River and surrounded by open land, was ideal. Furthermore, the Potomac Park site was already designated in theMcMillan Plan of 1901 to be the location of a future monument comparable to that of the Washington Monument.[8][9]
With Congressional approval and a $300,000 allocation, the project got underway. On February 12, 1914, contractor M. F. Comer of Toledo, Ohio; resident member of the memorial's commission, former Senator Joseph C. S. Blackburn of Kentucky; and the memorial's designer, Henry Bacon, conducted a groundbreaking ceremony by turning over a few spadefuls of earth.[10] The following month is when actual construction began. Work progressed steadily according to schedule. Some changes were made to the plan. The statue of Lincoln, originally designed to be 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, was enlarged to 19 feet (5.8 m) to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the huge chamber. As late as 1920, the decision was made to substitute an open portal for the bronze and glass grille which was to have guarded the entrance. Despite these changes, the Memorial was finished on schedule. Commission president William H. Taft – who was then Chief Justice of the United States – dedicated the Memorial on May 30, 1922, and presented it to PresidentWarren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. Lincoln's only surviving son, 78-year-oldRobert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance.[11] Prominent African Americans were invited to the event and discovered upon arrival they were assigned a segregated section guarded byU.S. Marines, a policy implemented by director of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, Lieutenant ColonelClarence O. Sherrill.[12][13]
The Memorial has become a symbolically sacred venue, especially for the Civil Rights Movement. In 1939, theDaughters of the American Revolution refused to allow the African-AmericancontraltoMarian Anderson to perform before an integrated audience at the organization'sConstitution Hall. At the suggestion ofEleanor Roosevelt, the wife of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt,Harold L. Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, arranged for a performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday of that year, to a live audience of 75,000 and a nationwide radio audience.[14] On June 29, 1947,Harry Truman became the first president to address theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The speech took place at the Lincoln Memorial during the NAACP convention and was carried nationally on radio. In that speech, Truman laid out the need to end discrimination, which would be advanced by the first comprehensive, presidentially proposed civil rights legislation.[15]
On August 28, 1963, the memorial grounds were the site of theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which proved to be a high point of theAmerican Civil Rights Movement. It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to the event, where they heardMartin Luther King Jr., deliver his historic "I Have a Dream" speech before the memorial honoring the president who issued theEmancipation Proclamation 100 years earlier. King's speech, with its language of patriotism and its evocation of Lincoln'sGettysburg Address, was meant to match the symbolism of the Lincoln Memorial as a monument to national unity.[16] Labor leaderWalter Reuther, an organizer of the march, persuaded the other organizers to move the march to the Lincoln Memorial from theCapitol Building. Reuther believed the location would be less threatening to Congress and that the occasion would be especially appropriate underneath the gaze of Abraham Lincoln's statue.[17] The D.C. police also appreciated the location because it was surrounded on three sides by water, so that any incident could be easily contained.[18]
The Memorial was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.[19] At the memorial on May 9, 1970, PresidentRichard Nixon had amiddle-of-the-night impromptu, brief meeting with protesters who, just days after theKent State shootings, were preparing tomarch against the Vietnam War.[20]
On August 28, 1983, crowds gathered again to mark the 20th Anniversary Mobilization for Jobs, Peace and Freedom, to reflect on progress in gaining civil rights for African Americans and to commit to correcting continuing injustices. King's speech is such a part of the Lincoln Memorial story, that the spot on which King stood, on the landing eighteen steps below Lincoln's statue, was engraved in 2003 in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event.[21]
The exterior of the Memorial echoes a classicGreek temple and featuresYule marble quarried fromColorado. The structure measures 189.7 by 118.5 feet (57.8 by 36.1 m) and is 99 feet (30 m) tall. It is surrounded by aperistyle of 36flutedDoric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death, and two columnsin-antis at the entrance behind thecolonnade. The columns stand 44 feet (13 m) tall with a base diameter of 7.5 feet (2.3 m). Each column is built from 12 drums including thecapital. The columns, like the exterior walls and facades, are inclined slightly toward the building's interior. This is to compensate for perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear to bulge out at the top when compared with the bottom, a common feature ofAncient Greek architecture.[22]
Above the colonnade, inscribed on thefrieze, are the names of the 36 states in the Union at the time ofLincoln's death and the dates in which they entered the Union.[a] Their names are separated by double wreath medallions inbas-relief. Thecornice is composed of a carved scroll regularly interspersed with projecting lions' heads and ornamented with palmetto cresting along the upper edge. Above this on the attic frieze are inscribed the names of the 48 states present at the time of the Memorial's dedication. A bit higher is agarland joined by ribbons and palm leaves, supported by the wings of eagles. All ornamentation on the friezes and cornices was done byErnest C. Bairstow.[22]
The Memorial is anchored in a concrete foundation, 44 to 66 feet (13 to 20 m) in depth, constructed by M. F. Comer and Company and the National Foundation and Engineering Company, and is encompassed by a 187-by-257-foot (57 by 78 m) rectangular graniteretaining wall measuring 14 feet (4.3 m) in height.[22]
Leading up to the shrine on the east side are the main steps. Beginning at the edge of theReflecting Pool, the steps rise to the Lincoln Memorial Circle roadway surrounding the edifice, then to the main portal, intermittently spaced with a series of platforms. Flanking the steps as they approach the entrance are two buttresses each crowned with an 11-foot (3.4 m) tall tripod carved from pinkTennessee marble[22] by the Piccirilli Brothers.[23] There are a total of 87 steps (58 steps from the chamber to the plaza and 29 steps from the plaza to the Reflecting Pool).[24]
The Memorial's interior is divided into three chambers by two rows of fourIonic columns, each 50 feet (15 m) tall and 5.5 feet (1.7 m) at their base. The central chamber, housing the statue of Lincoln, is 60 feet (18 m) wide, 74 feet (23 m) deep, and 60 feet (18 m) high.[25] The north and south chambers display carved inscriptions of Lincoln'ssecond inaugural address and hisGettysburg Address.[b] Bordering these inscriptions arepilasters ornamented withfasces, eagles, and wreaths. The inscriptions and adjoining ornamentation are byEvelyn Beatrice Longman.[22]
The Memorial is replete with symbolic elements. The 36 columns represent the states of the Union at the time ofLincoln's death; the 48 stone festoons above the columns represent the 48 states in 1922. Inside, each inscription is surmounted by a 60-by-12-foot (18.3 by 3.7 m) mural byJules Guérin portraying principles seen as evident in Lincoln's life: Freedom, Liberty, Morality, Justice, and the Law on the south wall; Unity, Fraternity, and Charity on the north. Cypress trees, representing Eternity, are in the murals' backgrounds. The murals' paint incorporated kerosene and wax to protect the exposed artwork from fluctuations in temperature and moisture.[26]
The ceiling consists of bronze girders ornamented with laurel and oak leaves. Between these are panels ofAlabama marble, saturated withparaffin to increase translucency. But feeling that the statue required even more light, Bacon and French designed metal slats for the ceiling to conceal floodlights, which could be modulated to supplement the natural light; this modification was installed in 1929. The one major alteration since was the addition of an elevator for the disabled in the 1970s.[26]
Lying between the north and south chambers of the open-air Memorial is the central hall, which contains the large solitary figure of Abraham Lincoln sitting in contemplation. Its sculptor,Daniel Chester French, supervised the sixPiccirilli brothers (Ferruccio, Attilio, Furio, Masaniello, Orazio, and Getulio) in its construction, and it took four years to complete.
The 175-short-ton (159 t) statue, carved from Georgia white marble, was shipped in 28 pieces.[26] Originally intended to be only 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, the sculpture was enlarged to 19 feet (5.8 m) from head to foot considering it would look small within the extensive interior space.[27] If Lincoln were depicted standing, he would be 28 feet (8.5 m) tall.
The widest span of the statue corresponds to its height, and it rests upon an oblong pedestal of Tennessee marble 10 feet (3.0 m) high, 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, and 17 feet (5.2 m) deep. Directly beneath this lies a platform of Tennessee marble about 34.5 feet (10.5 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, and 6.5 inches (0.17 m) high. Lincoln's arms rest on representations of Roman fasces, a subtle touch that associates the statue with the Augustan (and imperial) theme (obelisk and funerary monuments) of the Washington Mall.[28] The statue is discreetly bordered by two pilasters, one on each side. Between these pilasters, and above Lincoln's head, is engraved an epitaph of Lincoln[26] byRoyal Cortissoz.[29] It is important to note that regardless of the aforementioned design intent of the "Roman" fasces, the fasces are features of Etruscan political institutions that were adopted by the Romans, and according to Silius Italicus, these fasce originate from the city of Vetulonia, Italy.[30]
IN THIS TEMPLE |
| —Epitaph byRoyal Cortissoz |
Anurban legend holds that the face of GeneralRobert E. Lee is carved onto the back of Lincoln's head,[31] and looks back across the Potomac toward his former home,Arlington House (now within the bounds ofArlington National Cemetery). Another popular legend is that Lincoln's hands are shown usingsign language to represent his initials, his left hand signing anA and his right signing anL. The National Park Service denies both legends.[31]
However, historian Gerald Prokopowicz writes that, while it is not clear that sculptor Daniel Chester French intended Lincoln's hands to be formed into sign language versions of his initials, it is possible that French did intend it. French was familiar withAmerican Sign Language, and he would have had a reason to do so, to pay tribute to Lincoln for having signed the federal legislation givingGallaudet University, a university for the deaf, the authority to grant college degrees.[32] TheNational Geographic Society's publication "Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C." states that Daniel Chester French had a son who was deaf and that the sculptor was familiar with sign language.[33][34] Historian James A. Percoco has observed that, although there are no extant documents showing that French had Lincoln's hands carved to represent the letters "A" and "L" in American Sign Language, "I think you can conclude that it's reasonable to have that kind of summation about the hands."[35]
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Below the memorial is anundercroft. During construction,graffiti was scrawled on it by workers,[36][37] which is considered historical by theNational Park Service.[36] During the 1970s and 1980s, there were regular tours of the undercroft.[38] The tours stopped abruptly in 1989 after a visitor noticedasbestos and notified the Service.[39] Due to water seeping through the calcium carbonate within the marble, over timestalactites andstalagmites have formed within it.[40]
For the memorial's centennial in 2022, the undercroft was planned to be open to visitors following a rehabilitation project funded byDavid Rubenstein.[41][42] Work started on the $69 million project in 2023 with expected completion by 2026.[43]
Through the renovation, the undercroft will become a visitor area with a museum, theater, store and exhibit section. It is expected to only take up 15,000 square feet of the 50,000 square-foot undercroft. The plan, as of 2024, is for the space to include six floor-to-ceiling glass walls that will provide views of the cathedral-like interior of the undercroft, and an immersive theater presentation that will project images of historic events onto screens and the undercroft's pillars.[44]
As one of the most prominent American monuments, the Lincoln Memorial is often featured in books, films, videogames, and television shows that take place in Washington; by 2003 it had appeared in over 60 films,[45] and in 2009, Mark S. Reinhart compiled some short sketches of dozens of uses of the Memorial in film and television.[46]
Some examples of films includeFrank Capra's 1939 filmMr. Smith Goes to Washington, where in a key scene the statue and the Memorial's inscription provide inspiration to freshman Senator Jefferson Smith, played byJames Stewart.[47] The Park Service did not want Capra to film at the Memorial, so he sent a large crew elsewhere as a distraction while a smaller crew filmed Stewart andJean Arthur inside the Memorial.[48]
Many of the appearances of the Lincoln Memorial are actually digitalvisual effects, due to restrictive filming rules.[49] As of 2017, according to theNational Park Service, "Filming/photography is prohibited above the white marble steps and the interior chamber of the Lincoln Memorial."[50]
Mitchell Newton-Matza said in 2016 that "Reflecting its cherished place in the hearts of Americans, the Lincoln Memorial has often been featured prominently in popular culture, especially motion pictures."[51] According to Tracey Gold Bennett, "The majesty of the Lincoln Memorial is a big draw for film location scouts, producers, and directors because this landmark has appeared in a considerable number of films."[52]
Jay Sacher writes:
From high to low, the memorial is cultural shorthand for both American ideals and 1960s radicalism. FromForrest Gump'sZelig-like insertion into anti-war rallies on the steps of the memorial, to the villainousDecepticon robots discarding the Lincoln statue and claiming it as a throne. ... The memorial's place in the culture is assured even as it is parodied.[49]
From 1959 (the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth) to 2008, the memorial, with statue visible through the columns, was depicted on the reverse of theUnited States one-cent coin, which since 1909 has depicted a bust of Lincoln on its front.[53]
The memorial has appeared on the back of theU.S. five-dollar bill since 1929.[54] The front of the bill bears Lincoln's portrait.
| External videos | |
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 Laser Scan: Lincoln Memorial (0:33), DJS Associates from theLincoln Memorial Project |
| International | |
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| Geographic | |
| Other | |
