Lincoln Memorial

Its design was based on the temples of Ancient Greece

Martin Luther King, Jr., made his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The statue was carved in four years by the Piccirilli brothers under the supervision of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French. The statue of Lincoln is 19 feet high and weighs 175 tons. The original plan was for the statue to be only ten feet high, but this was changed so that the figure of Lincoln would not be dwarfed by the size of the chamber.

The thirty-six colonnades in the front of the memorial are used to represent the thirty-six states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death.

The surrounding architecture is built in the tradition of the Greek Doric Temple style.

On the interior of the Lincoln Memorial, above the inscription of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, is a mural depicting the angel of truth freeing a slave. This depiction symbolizes Lincoln and his presidency because he abolished slavery.

Behind the statue of Lincoln it reads: "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 memorial took eight years to complete. It was started in 1914 and ended in 1922.

The 36 enormous pillars represent each of the original states in the Union at the time.

There are two features on the Abraham Lincoln statue that have caused debate. Some people have claimed to have seen Robert E. Lee's face carved on the backside of President Lincoln's head, and is looking towards his former home the Arlington House. Another feature was that Lincoln is doing sign language to represent his initials. His left hand signed an A, and his right hand signed a L.

In the second inaugural address the word "Future" is accidently engraved as an e

When the monument was built there were twelve more states then there were before President Lincoln was killed. The names of the 48 states are written on the outside of the memorial walls.

The "I Have a Dream" speech is such a part of the Lincoln Memorial story, that the spot on which King stood, on the landing eighteen steps below Lincoln's statue, was engraved in 2003 in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event. This engraving can be easy to miss unless one walks up the very center of the steps. The engraving is small and the letters have not been painted in to make them more readable.

The Memorial was designed by Henry Bacon

By the completion of the monument in May 1922, the Union had increased by 12 more states, so the names of all 48 states were carved on the outside of the memorial's walls.

REVISION: The Lincoln Memorial's design was based on the temples of Ancient Greece.

Plaster casts of Lincoln's face were used to make the monument's statue more realistic.

The sculpture of Lincoln is made of 28 separate blocks of White Georgia marble. This means that each block is close to twelve feet and twenty-five twenty-eights square feet of marble.

Gettysburg Address is located on the left side of Lincoln.

The first design for the Lincoln Memorial called for six equestrian and 31 pedestrian statues of colossal size, with a 12-foot statue of Lincoln in the center. That project was never started, though, due to lack of funds.