"All people should be free" (Lincoln Memorial)

Member Name: doyoureally

Product:	Lincoln Memorial
Date:	12/03/03 (453 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inspirational, Beautifully made

Disadvantages: Touristy street vendors, Can be busy

It is almost inevitable that you will visit this moving tribute if you come to Washington D.C.

My advice is not to come here first - build a sense of the place, its history and purpose - then come and spend a few moments at least with the man who did much for his country.

The entire set up of the Capitol and the White House culminates at the opposite end of the green and wide avenue with the imposing Lincoln Memorial. Having spent a few days doing most of the others sites - I was enthralled by the birth and early years of this nation. It is fascinating to learn how many of today's problems are so very similar to those that they faced over a hundred years back.

If you are dead on you feet after a day trekking the museums and sites - sit for a while by the Reflecting Pool. At best your feet will cease to ache and you can draw together the sense of everything you have seen. At worst you can pretend to be some government agent or political power broker meeting a spy in some old-fashioned movie.

When you have relaxed a little walk to the end of the Pool and up the steps into the Memorial.


Who was Lincoln?
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Lincoln was 16th President of the United States. He was in office during the Civil War (1861-65). His most notable achievements were saving the Union and freeing the slaves. His untimely just at the war ended perhaps contributed to his fame. He is perhaps most famous for his simple belief that all people should be free.


What is the Memorial?
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A fitting tribute to President Abraham Lincoln is set at the western end of the National Mall

The building (architect: Henry Beacon) was constructed in the style of a classical Greek temple. The Lincoln Memorial honours the 16th President of the United States. The memorial was made from 1914 and 1922. The theme represents the Union, each columns surrounding the walls representing one of th

e 36 states in the Union (at the time of Lincoln's murder).

The names of the 48 states in the Union are carved into the walls outside the memorial. Alaska and Hawaii are inscribed on a plaque in the approach plaza.

The chamber inside the memorial contains an imposing, elegant statue of Lincoln seated. He faces the Washington Monument and the Capitol. 19 feet high and weighing 175 tons - it is a remarkable sculpture. Above the statue these words are set - "In this Temple, as in the hearts of the people, for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever".

Lincoln?s Second Inaugural Presidential Address is etched onto the first of two huge stone tables. The second contains the well-known Gettysburg Address. I found reading this so beautifully and permanently recorded was quite inspirational. The USA may not always live true to its dream - but the quality of the dream is worth consideration?

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
rath
er for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Park Rangers do offer "interpretative talks", but I found that silence and a slow pondering read got the right result for me.


Where is it?
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Lincoln Memorial
900 Ohio Drive, SW
Washington, DC 20024

Information from (202) 426-6841

Open daily from 8:00 AM until 11:45 PM, every day except Christmas Day.

Getting there
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By metro - Foggy Bottom metro station is the nearest stop.

By car-
- Interstates 66 and 395 link to the Mall from the south.
- Interstate 495, New York Avenue, Rock Creek Parkway, George Washington Memorial Parkway, and the Cabin John Parkway link from the North.
- Interstate 66, Route 50 and 29 provide come from the West.
- Routes 50, 1, and 4 provide access from the East.

One possible solution to seeing all of Washington is the Tourmobile Sightseeing company. They offer daily, narrated shuttle tours to 18 major sites with unlimited free reboarding throughout the day for a single ticket price. Stops and leaflets are everywhere.


The Monument is wheelchair accessible; a wheelchair is also available without reservation.

In summary
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Washington has many great monuments - some remember the lost lives of thousands of people. I found the Lincoln Memorial one of the most memorable and inspiring because the just one man who propagated the simple belief " all people should be free".

And for me that was and is now not a b
ad thought
to end a day with.

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