greathitecture: USA WEEK//1//LINCOLN MEMORIAL

The Lincoln Memorial commemorates the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. It is located in Potomac Park, Washington, D.C.

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith

Source: Wikipedia

Two years after his assassination, Congress formed the Lincoln Monument Association. Its task was to build a memorial dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. It would take until 1901 before a Reflecting Pool site for the memorial was chosen.

/BUILDING

The Lincoln Memorial was designed by Henry Bacon in Greek Revival style with 36 columns. Inside the building is a statue of a Abraham Lincoln sitting. Over the statue is inscription:

"IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER."

Each column represents one state of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. When the memorial was completed in May 1922, the Union had expanded with 12 more states, so the names of the 48 states were carved on the outside of the memorial's walls. After the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, a plaque was added with the names of the new states.

cliff1066 at Flickr
Source: Wikipedia

Building is 99 ft (30.2 m) tall and it is made of marble and limestone. Construction started on Lincoln’s birthday February 12, 1915 and was finished May 30, 1922.

The northern wall contains an inscription of Lincoln's second inaugural speech, the southern wall has the Gettysburg address inscribed, considered one of the most important speeches in American history.

The ceiling of the Memorial, 60 feet (18 m) above the floor, is composed of bronze girders, ornamented with laurel and oak leaves. Between the girders are panels of Alabama marble, saturated with paraffin to increase their translucency. Despite the increased light from this device, Bacon and French felt the statue required even more light. They decided upon an artificial lighting system in which a louvered lighting panel would be set in the ceiling with metal slats to conceal the great floodlights

/STATUE

The statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor Daniel Chester French and the work follows in the Beaux Arts and American Renaissancetraditions. Statue is 19 feet tall (5,7 m) and it is made of georgia marble. The sculpture weighs 175 short tons (159 t).

Photo: Jeff Kubina
Source: Wikipedia

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, because he was familiar with American Sign Language, and he would have had a reason to do so, that is, to pay tribute to Lincoln for having signed the federal legislation giving Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf, the authority to grant college degrees.

/OTHER

-The memorial is often used as a gathering place for protests and political rallies.

-Martin Luther King, Jr., made his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

-From 1959 to 2008, the Lincoln Memorial was shown on the reverse of the United States one cent coin, which bears Lincoln's portrait bust on the front. The statue of Lincoln can be seen in the monument. This was done to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

-The memorial also appears on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill, the front of which bears Lincoln's portrait.