Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Overlooking the lawns and Reflecting Pool of the National Mall in Washington DC, the Lincoln Memorial is an awe-inspiring monument that honors the 16th President of the USA.

Overlooking the lawns and Reflecting Pool of the National Mall in Washington DC, the Lincoln Memorial is an awe-inspiring monument that honors the 16th President of the USA. The straight line from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument is the axis of the Mall, which goes upto the Capital on extending further.

Modeled after the Greek Temple of Zeus, it has a flight of steps leading up to the Memorial which are flanked by buttresses with tripods on Roman fasces. The marble façade features a peristyle of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. The entrance has two 44 feet tall columns, which frame the commanding statue of Lincoln inside in the central chamber.

The 19 feet tall statue by Daniel Chester French depicts Lincoln sitting contemplative in the middle of the Civil War, his arms resting on representations of Roman fasces. The wall behind the statue has pilasters framing an epitaph - IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION, THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER. The north chamber displays inscriptions of Lincoln's second inaugural address on 4-March 1865 in which he exhorted all Americans to unite. The South chamber has a plaque engraved with his famous Gettysburg Address of 1863 that was delivered at the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers National Cemetery.

The view from the Lincoln Memorial, with the Reflecting Pool in the foreground leading to the World War II Memorial, with the Washington Monument just behind and the Capitol Building in the distance across The Mall, is famous and not to be missed. 2000 feet long and 167 feet wide, the Reflecting Pool with a tinted bottom has been modeled after the grand canals at Versailles and Fontainebleau. Along with the Lincoln Memorial, it has been the site of several historic moments in America's past, from civil rights marches to the annual Fourth of July Fireworks. This was the setting for Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have a Dream' speech, which he gave from the steps of the memorial to a crowd of 250,000 that didn't fit very well - many of them stood in the pool itself! The banks of the pool have verdant lawns where you can find the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial, DC War Memorial, and Korean War Veterans Memorial.