Lego Architecture Мемориал Линкольна (21022) [4/68] History and construction

Demands for a fitting national memorial for the 16th

president of the United States began shortly after his

assassination in April 1865. Although Congress passed

its first bill on the matter in 1867, it would be 1913 before

the design, location, and funding of the memorial were

finally approved.

Even then many still questioned whether architect Henry

Bacon’s Greek temple design was too extravagant for

such a humble man as Lincoln, and whether the swampy

and inaccessible Potomac Park was the best place for

it to stand.

The Lincoln Memorial Commission stood firm in its

recommendation: the memorial would stand alone at

one end of the National Mall. The massive sculpture of

Lincoln, the savior of the nation, would face east toward

the monument celebrating the founder of the nation,

George Washington, and in between would be a long

reflecting pool.

The project got under way with a ceremony on

February 12, 1914, and construction began a month later.

Although work slowed as a result of the United States

entering the First World War in 1917, the monument

was completed on schedule in 1922. On Memorial Day,

May 30, 1922, 50,000 people attended a dedication

ceremony. Among those present were hundreds of Civil

War veterans; Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s only

surviving son; and President Warren G. Harding, who

accepted the memorial on behalf of the American people.

The memorial itself echoes a classic Greek temple and

the structure measures 189.7 by 118.5 ft. (58 by 36 m) and

is 99 ft. (30 m) tall. It is surrounded by a colonnade of 36

fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the

Union at the time of Lincoln’s death. The columns stand

44 ft. (13 m) tall with a base diameter of 7.5 ft. (2.3 m).

HistoryandConstruction

Above the colonnade, inscribed on a frieze, are the

The memorial is anchored on a concrete foundation, 44

187 by 257 ft. (57 by 78 m) rectangular granite retaining

wall measuring 14 ft. (4.3 m) in height.

The interior of the monument is divided into three

chambers. The north and south chambers contain carved

governing principles in Lincoln’s life.

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