What is the Lincoln Memorial?

The Lincoln Memorial is a Greek temple-style monument in Washington, D.C. honoring Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States who preserved the Union and ended slavery during the Civil War. The memorial sits at the western end of the National Mall, opposite the U.S. Capitol, with the Reflecting Pool stretching about 2,000 feet east toward the Washington Monument. Construction began on February 12, 1914 (Lincoln's 105th birthday) and the memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922 (Memorial Day) with President Warren G. Harding presiding.

The architect was Henry Bacon, who designed the structure as a Greek Doric temple inspired by the Parthenon in Athens. The exterior consists of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each state in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death in 1865. The names of those 36 states are inscribed on the entablature above the columns, with the names of the 48 states existing at the time of the memorial's dedication carved into the attic above. Two later plaques honor Alaska and Hawaii, admitted in 1959.

The interior contains three chambers. The central chamber holds the seated statue of Lincoln, sculpted by Daniel Chester French. The statue is 19 feet tall (and would be 28 feet if Lincoln stood), made of 28 blocks of white Georgia marble, and weighs about 175 tons. Lincoln's hands rest on the chair arms, the left fist clenched, the right hand open and relaxed. Some say the hands form the letters A and L in American Sign Language for Lincoln's initials, although this is contested.

The north and south side chambers contain the texts of two Lincoln speeches engraved in stone: the Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863) on the south wall and the Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865) on the north wall. Both walls feature murals by artist Jules Guerin.

The memorial is a frequent site of political and civil rights events. Most famously, Marian Anderson sang on the steps on April 9, 1939 after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her use of Constitution Hall because she was Black; about 75,000 people attended. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps to about 250,000 marchers during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The memorial has hosted countless rallies, protests, and commemorations.

About 7 to 8 million people visit the memorial each year. Maintenance and restoration work has continued throughout the memorial's history, with major projects in 2003 and 2017. The memorial is open 24 hours a day, free of charge.