The Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC.

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• published: 20 Jan 2013
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Facts about the Lincoln Memorial: **Demands for a memorial dedicated to Abraham Lincoln began shortly after his death and a committee setup in 1867, the Lincoln memorial's construction was not started until February 12, 1914. **The first person chosen to design the building was American sculptor, Clark Mills in 1867. Clark's design was a 68 foot structure adorned with 6 equestrian (a statue of a rider on top of a horse) and 31 pedestrian statues of huge proportions topped by a 12 foot statue of Lincoln. Clark's plan found few who interested and was scrapped. **The Potomac Park site and architect Henry Bacon's Greek temple design faced multiple oppositions before being finally approved. **Many changes were made in the initial plans for the structure. However, despite these, the memorial was finished on schedule and dedicated to the American people on May Day in 1922. **The memorial was one of the first buildings to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. **The exterior of Lincoln Memorial is made of Georgia's Yule marble and is 187 feet long and slightly over 118 feet wide. **The Memorial is surrounded by thirty six fluted Doric columns representing the 36 states in U. S. at the time of Lincoln's death. Two more columns are located behind the colonnade at the entrance, bringing the total to thirty eight. **On the frieze above the colonnade are inscribed the names of all thirty six states and the dates when they joined the Union. **The interior is divided into three chambers using two rows of four 34 ' tall Ionic columns. The north side chamber contains a carved inscription of Lincoln's second inaugural address and the north wall mural envisions unity, fraternity and charity. The southern chamber boasts of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and a mural which portrays the elements of freedom, immortality, justice, liberty and law. Both murals are the work of Jules Guerin and measure 59 feet x 44 feet, 11 inches. **In the central hall sits the solitary figure of Lincoln on a citadel. Initially designed to be 10 feet tall, during the constructional phases the statue was enlarged to 19 feet in both height and width. The statue is so huge that if it stood up it will be almost 28 feet tall. **The statue was carved by the famous Piccirilli Brothers, under the supervision of renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French. **The statue is made of Georgia white marble weighing a mammoth 158 tons and shipped in 28 separate pieces. **It took nearly four years for the statue to be completed. **The pedestal on which the statue sits is almost 10 feet high, 16 feet wide and 19 feet deep. **Some suggest that Confederate General Robert E. Lee's face is carved onto the back of Lincoln's head the profile hidden in his hair and looks back towards the General's old home, "Arlington house", now part of Arlington national cemetery. **Another urban legend argues that Lincoln's hands are actually forming shapes, which represent his initials "A" and "L" in sign language. This theory is supported by the fact that French knew American Sign Language and he might be paying tribute to Lincoln for signing the federal legislation which gave Gallaudet University for the Deaf the authority to grant college degrees. **The memorial has been a stage for historical events, such as the defiant African-American artist, Marian Anderson, performing on the steps of Memorial to an audience of seventy thousand, not counting the nationwide radio audience. This was after being disallowed to perform at the Daughters of American Revolution Constitution Hall in 1939. **The steps also witnessed Martin Luther King Jr. deliver the historical "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963, (in which King mentions 'Stone Mountain', another of my slide shows). That event is such an important part of history that the spot on which King stood (the landing eighteen steps below Lincoln's statue), was engraved in 2003 in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event. **From 1959 (the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth) till 2008, the Lincoln Memorial was used on the reverse of the American one cent coin, popularly known as a 'penny'. In 2009, four different reverses, all depicting life of Lincoln, replaced this and finally in 2010 'the Union shield' replaced the Lincoln memorial permanently. However, the United States five-dollar bill has used the Lincoln memorial on the reverse since 1929. The front of the bill carries the portrait of Lincoln himself. **In 2007, the Lincoln Memorial was ranked seventh in the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. I do not hold copyrights for either the pictures or the music used in this slide show. If you enjoy my slide shows, please tell your friends! Be well! Nina