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The memorial looms over the south end of the Mall, large and powerful, designed to instill the sense of awe that Lincoln commands. A massive, sitting Lincoln gazes down at the hordes of people struggling to climb the steep steps. And there will be hordes of people, unless you come here early in the morning or later in the evening when the tour buses aren’t operating.
Calls for a memorial to Lincoln began shortly after his assassination, with the formation of the Lincoln Memorial Association in March of 1867. The McMillan Commission selected a site for the Memorial in their 1901 plan for Washington, D.C., but construction was delayed by objections from one Congressman that didn’t want the memorial to be built on a swamp. The swamp was drained, the banks of the Potomac were pushed further west, and the congressman finally acquiesced. The cornerstone for the memorial was laid on February 12, 1915.
The memorial, designed as a Greek Doric temple by architect Henry Bacon, was completed in 1922. The memorial is supported by 36 Doric columns, each 37-feet high and capped on the pediment by the name of one of the 36 states existing during Lincoln’s presidency. Inside is the massive, 19-foot, sitting statue of Lincoln carved by Daniel Chester French, flanked by his most famous speeches - the Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Speech.
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