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The Lincoln Memorial
The memorial is to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. It also is a monument to freedom since Abraham Lincoln was President during the Civil War and slavery was abolished. Henry Bacon designed the memorial which looks like the Parthenon in Greece. Construction began on February 12, 1914. The building is made of Colorado Yule marble and Indiana limestone. There are 36 columns that go around the outside of the monument, one for every state that belonged to the United States when Abraham Lincoln was President. At the top of each column is the name of the state that it represents. There are 87 stairs leading to the top. Daniel Chester French designed the statue of President Lincoln sitting in a chair looking at the Washington Monument. The Piccirilli Brothers of New York carved it. It is 19 feet tall and 19 feet wide and is made of 28 separate blocks of white Georgia marble. Above his statue are these words:
Jules Guerin painted murals that are on the north and south walls where Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Speech can be seen. Ernest Bairstow and Evelyn Beatrice Longman carved other parts of the Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1922, by President Warren G. Harding. Robert Todd Lincoln, the only son of President Lincoln who was alive then, was there to see the dedication. In 1922 there were 48 states in the United States, rather than the 36 that the columns stood for. All 48 states are named on the outside of the attic walls. When Alaska and Hawaii became states, a plaque was made showing that they were now also part of the United States. The plaque is in the plaza.
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