Washington Monument: Secrets of the legendary American monument, which the tour guides do not tell. Description of the Washington Monument Different colors of marble bottom and top

Marble obelisk in honor of the first president; one of the most revered monuments in the city (District of Columbia). The height of this object directed into the sky is almost 170 meters. Before the appearance of the Eiffel Tower, he broke all world records with his parameters. The memorial is located in the center of the American capital at the National Mall. It is included in the version of our site.

The inside of the monument is hollow. Once upon a time it was possible to climb to its top by 896 steps or by elevator, but after 2011 it was closed to the public. Now the monument can only be viewed from the outside. It is almost always crowded around it. The main contingent of visitors is tourists and groups of schoolchildren studying the history of their country. Maryland marble and granite was used to build the most important national memorial. It was opened in Washington in 1888.

On the east side, at the top of the obelisk, there is a symbolic inscription in two words in Latin. In translation, the inscription reads "Praise God" and it is she who is illuminated first every day by the first rays of the sun. The process of creating the obelisk lasted just over 50 years under the direction of the architect R. Mills. The top of the Washington Memorial is crowned with a tetrahedral pyramid with 8 windows, behind which there is an observation deck. The 2011 earthquake in the eastern United States led to the closure of the site. Also, a crack was found on one of the walls of the pyramid.

This monument is visible from anywhere in the city. Geographically, it is located on the site between the Capitol and the White House. Nearby, you can see memorials dedicated to other presidents of the country, for example, the Lincoln Memorial.

Attraction photo: Washington Monument

Washington Memorial: Gratitude to God and Man

Americans love memorials. There are many of them in the country, they were built on a scale inherent in a great country, and usually their main idea is a tribute to the memory of a significant event or an outstanding personality. The capital of the state, the city of Washington, is arguably the champion of significant memorials, and one of the most recognizable in the world, revered domestically -.

History of the Washington Memorial: unfinished work, better than its design

To be more precise, the official name of the Memorial is Washington National Monument. It was built in honor of the great American, one of the "founding fathers" of the nation, the first President of the United States, George Washington.

George Washington, in addition to his presidency, was also the Commander-in-Chief of the American Forces during the War of Independence from England, and also took an active part in the writing of the US Constitution (headed by the Convention, which adopted its text).

Voices calling for the creation of a monument to such a revered person began to be heard during the life of Washington. But in those days there were no necessary resources, and the young state was solving other, more urgent tasks.

In the 30s of the XIX For centuries, plans to create the Memorial flashed with renewed vigor, a Society was created to deal with the project. The society was engaged in two main things: collecting money (initially they decided to build on donations) and developing a project. The second task was assigned to the architect Robert Mills.

Mills soon presented his project to customers. The author saw it in the form of a huge obelisk, around which a colonnade would be located, crowned with a massive statue of Washington standing in a chariot. Near the chariot were three dozen figures of prominent American revolutionaries.

Alas, this project was not destined to come true. Summed up the first part of the Society's work - collecting money. In fact, a lot of them were collected - a little less than 30 thousand dollars, a huge amount at that time! Contributions were made by both individuals and organizations.

But when construction began in 1848, it turned out that finance was still not enough. They decided to abandon the columns and chariots with figures, and leave only the grandiose obelisk 169.3 meters high. The granite obelisk was faced with marble from Maryland, and since the construction was interrupted several times, the marble turned out to be of different shades, which is clearly visible even now.

In the end, the result is even better than the original project! Now the Washington Memorial is one of the most famous in the United States. Its stele is modeled after the legendary Egyptian lighthouse in Alexandria, and on the eastern side of the shiny aluminum peak are carved two Latin words meaning "Thank God." Many researchers see Masonic signs in the appearance of the Memorial.

Interesting About Washington Memorial

Before the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Washington Memorial was the tallest structure on the planet.
The total weight of the stele is just a little less than 90 thousand tons.
Inside the stele there are 188 memorial plates with information about those organizations, societies, and even individuals who collected money for the construction. The slab on behalf of Pope Pius IX was once stolen and thrown into the Potomac River.
During the protracted construction, the stele looked so inconspicuous for a long time that the then young journalist Mark Twain wrote: "It resembles a factory chimney with a barn at the base, where tired pigs sleep."
The flags of the United States are erected around the Memorial, according to the number of states.
Between the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, opposite, is a man-made pond 600 meters long and 50 meters wide. It is designed in such a way that there are almost never waves on the surface, and both Memorials are reflected in the water, like in a huge mirror.
The entrance to the Monument is free, but there are always long queues. It is estimated that during the entire existence of the Memorial, it was visited by about 72 million people.

Washington Memorial Today

Such a huge mass of tourists goes upstairs in an elevator arranged inside the stele. The steam lift was installed back in 1888, and electricity was supplied to it in 1901. In addition to the elevator, you can climb up the 896 steps. Above, almost at the very "edge" of the stele, there is an observation deck with 8 windows looking in different directions of the world. From here, from a bird's eye view, almost the entire center of Washington is visible.

Below, at the entrance to the elevator, is the majestic statue of Washington. On the days of the summer and winter solstices, the sun's rays from small windows fall exactly on the top of the statue, which feeds further talk that the entire complex was built using some secret Masonic symbols.

In August 2011, an earthquake struck the eastern United States, after which engineers identified small cracks on one side of the stele. The public was worried, because the Washington Memorial is one of the symbols of the country, it is recognizable, replicated in thousands of photographs, and appears in many famous films. But they were quick to reassure people: the national shrine is not seriously threatened, and it is still considered one of the symbols of a free country.

The website of the US Department of State gives the following definition to the National Washington Monument (which is the official name of the Washington Monument):

“This four-sided stone structure, located in Washington, DC, in the western part of the Esplanade, was erected in memory of the“ father of the nation ”, the general, founding father and the first President of the United States of America (1789-1797) George Washington.

The George Washington Memorial was created in the image and likeness of the classic Egyptian obelisk. The height of the monument is 169 m, and it rises above the entire city, being one of the tallest stone structures in the world. 50 flags surround the base of the memorial and symbolize the 50 states of the Union. If you take an elevator to the top of this pyramid, then from the windows on the observation deck you will see views of the Lincoln Memorial, The White house, Thomas Jefferson Memorial and Capitol Building.

Let's find out the history of its creation ...

Photo 2.

The unfinished Washington monument photographed by Mathew Brady in 1860

For the Esplanade mentioned in the text, see the second part of this review. Until then, about the Washington obelisk. The George Washington Monument is the tallest structure in the capital of the United States. (And the tallest building in Washington is the Capitol, which is just below the Washington Monument, but it is above the Capitol that it is actually forbidden to erect any buildings, although in the current law from 1910 the name of the Capitol itself is not mentioned, but only digital parameters of the maximum height of buildings are given).

A rather detailed essay "The Washington Monument is 100 years old" about the history of the construction of the monument to its centenary, which was celebrated in 1984, was once published by the magazine "America", published in Russian by the US government. Here are some excerpts from this detailed material (Journal of America, No. 337):

“The completion of the monument was preceded by a century of its design, hopes, unsuccessful start of construction, the construction itself, including a quarter-century break, as the country was at war and slowly rebuilt after the terrible Civil War.

George Washington's leading role in American history can hardly be overestimated. He helped shape the United States in three important ways: as commander in chief of the Continental Army that defeated England in the War of Independence; as Chairman of the Convention that drafted the US Constitution; as the first President of the United States.

Photo 3.

Burrowing under side of Washington Monument

The first call for the construction of the Washington Monument came back in 1783, when the Continental Congress decided that equestrian statue in honor of the great general who had just led his army of volunteers to victory in the War of Independence. But the new country had other tasks and limited resources, and by the time of Washington's death in 1799, no monument to America's most revered man had been erected. This prompted Congress to start the project over, and over the next three decades various plans were discussed to build some sort of mausoleum in the Capitol building itself. All of these plans fell through when the Washington family refused to move his remains from his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

In 1832, as the country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, the townspeople founded a society to build a monument and began collecting donations. Any American who wanted to help as much as possible could donate just one dollar. By the mid-30s of the 19th century, activists of the society collected 28 thousand dollars and announced a competition for best project monument to the national hero. The competition ended in 1836 and was won by architect Robert Mills, whose design was a giant obelisk with a statue of the president at the top. According to the architect's idea, the monument was to taper towards the top, and around the obelisk there would be a colonnade with thirty statues of heroes of the American Revolution.

Photo 4.

New cement foundation for Washington Monument

Until the 1980s, the monument was administered by this Society.

In 1836, the Society commissioned architects to propose designs for the monument. The winner was architectural engineer Robert Mills, who later built the Treasury, Patent Office and Post Office building in downtown Washington. Mills' project boiled down to the construction of an 183-meter obelisk surrounded at the base by a round, pillared Greek temple 31 meters high (this part of the project was later rejected).
Alas, the colossal cost of the project - a million dollars at the time was indeed a staggering amount - made the general public abandon the implementation of Robert Mills's plans. The architect was also criticized for the excessive pathos of the future monument, ordinary Americans wanted to see the monument more laconic.

Photo 5.

In the end, almost double the money required for the obelisk project was spent on the construction of the obelisk - $ 1,817,710. As a result, in 1848 it was decided to build only an obelisk, and the organizers of the society promised to think about the colonnade later, and gradually this idea was forgotten.

By that time, the society had managed to collect $ 87,000. It was a lot of money, but it clearly would not have been enough for the construction, but the founders of the organization reasoned that as soon as it began, the construction of the monument would spur the interest of fellow citizens in history and become the best advertisement for themselves. Indeed, many Americans, having learned about the construction of the monument, expressed their intention to support this noble cause.

The cornerstone of the monument was laid on July 4, 1848 (American Independence Day), using the same paddle that Washington himself used to lay the Capitol 55 years earlier. Speaker of the House of Representatives Robert Winthrop, speaking at the ceremony of laying the obelisk, called on the citizens of America to build a monument that would “express the gratitude of the entire American people ...

Build it up to the sky! You cannot transcend the heights of Washington's principles. "

Photo 6.

The first few years, the obelisk grew rapidly, but most of the work was interrupted in the mid-1850s, when the height of the monument was raised to 46 meters: a heated debate about slavery unfolded, and the threat of a Civil War loomed. When Mark Twain was already working for the newspapers in 1867, the monument was still not built. "It reminds," Twain wrote, "of a factory chimney with a broken top, with a barn at the base, and tired pigs sleep in the holy silence of its blessed shadow."

In 1876, Congress allocated funds to complete the building. On December 6, 1884, the last keystone was put up. The official opening ceremony took place on a platform just a few meters from the spire (As shown in the engraving above right. The monument was opened to the public four years later - October 9, 1888.).

Photo 7.

Robert mills original design

So he stands today, towering over Washington. Its height is 169.3 m, width at the base is 16.8 m, and at the top 10.5 m. The thickness of the walls is 4.6 m at the base and 46 cm at the top. It weighs 79,590 tons. In 1888, a steam lift was installed in it, which in 1901 gave way to an electric one. The National Park Service estimated that (by the time the monument celebrated its centenary) more than 72 million people climbed the site to look at the Washington skyline. " ("America" \u200b\u200bmagazine, No. 337).

Photo 8.

Washington Monument in 1899

Below are some facts about the George Washington Monument, starting from the data of the website of the US Department of State and the Russian broadcasting "Voice of America", supplementing them with our editorial research on the subject from other sources.

Photo 9.

The Washington Monument is located on the Washington Esplanade, or "Mall", that is, a pedestrian street.

The Esplanade - or as it is called here, the 'mall' - is a museum and park area in the heart of Washington between the US Congress and the President Lincoln Memorial. To imagine the Washington esplanade, imagine a lawn more than three kilometers long and nearly 100 meters wide, with museums and government buildings on either side across the street. Pierre Lanfant, developing the esplanade project, focused on the layout of the Champs Elysees in Paris. He named his brainchild "Bolshoy Prospect".

The longest lawn in the United States is traversed by sand and gravel paths. If you put on the right footwear, say, the sneakers so beloved by Americans, the mall is quite a pleasant place for walking, jogging and other outdoor activities, playing football, for example.

In the middle of the esplanade there is an obelisk - a memorial to George Washington, one of the most famous symbols of the US capital. The obelisk is similar in shape to a pencil, which is why Washingtonians jokingly call the monument a "pencil."

The esplanade is also decorated with two small artificial reservoirs, which are called "mirror ponds". One of them is located near the Capitol, the other is between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The mirrored pond near the obelisk is built in such a way that the entire stele is reflected in it, creating the illusion of two twin monuments.

The Esplanade is a place for demonstrations, festivals and celebrations. The celebration of Independence Day with concerts and fireworks takes place here on July 4. (Russian broadcasting "Voice of America" \u200b\u200b09/15/2002).

Photo 10.

“The original design of the monument, designed by Robert Mills, has undergone significant changes during construction. The current appearance of the monument bears little resemblance to Mills' intricate design, which was a combination of Greek and Egyptian architecture and involved the construction of a 600-foot obelisk surrounded by pantheon columns 250 feet in diameter and 100 feet high. Between the columns there were supposed to be 30 niches, in which statues of prominent Americans were to be installed over time. The figure of Washington, dressed in a toga and driving a triumphal chariot, was supposed to decorate the entrance. " (website of the US Department of State).

This initial project of the monument, according to the researchers, was not implemented due to lack of funds. The Society for the National Monument to George Washington accepted the Mills project without having the full amount for its implementation, deciding to start with the construction of an Egyptian obelisk, leaving the construction of a circular colonnade around the obelisk for the future. Later, despite the opinion of critics, who considered the monument without the surrounding colonnade "empty" and similar to the "asparagus stalk", it was decided to confine itself to the already built Egyptian element from Mills' project - the obelisk.

Photo 11.

Robert mills original design

Plates from donors and the "Neznaek" league

“The monument consists of 36,491 stone slabs. The interior walls are decorated with 188 carved slabs donated by individuals, societies, cities, states and nations of the world. " (website of the US Department of State).

Among the many donors of slabs for the monument in the 1850s were American Indian associations and, for example, Pope Pius IX, whose slab was stolen in 1854 and thrown into the Potomac River by members of the American nationalist league “Know Nothing” (“Know Nothing”). adhering to anti-Catholic and anti-Irish views. (In the 1850s, this league temporarily took control of the George Washington National Monument Society. This, together with the aforementioned papal stone incident, led to a weakening of the flow of donor funds and a temporary refusal to participate in the state project, and as a result, to halt construction. Know Nothing relinquished leadership of the Monument Building Society in 1858).

In those same years, the kingdom of Okinawa, independent from Japan, the Ryukyu Kingdom donated a stone that was brought to the United States by the notorious Commodore Perry (the discoverer of Japan for the modern West), but the slab never reached Washington. Some donors of the time decorated their slabs with inscriptions that had nothing to do with the memory of George Washington. For example, members of the Society for the Struggle for Sobriety decorated their plate for the Washington Monument with the inscription: "We will not buy, sell or use any alcoholic or malt drinks, wine, cider, or any other alcoholic beverages." Many slabs from that time have now been replaced.

Photo 12.

Washington Monuments: 1922

Different colors of marble bottom and top

“Do you know that the monument has a“ ring ”? Due to construction failures, the monument stood for 25 years unfinished, about 150 feet high. Work resumed in 1880. However, the newly supplied marble slabs were from a different quarry. The difference in the color of the marble facing marks the "old" and "new" parts of the obelisk. The marble came from three different quarries, and it was impossible to match the old and new stone perfectly in color. " (website of the US Department of State).

The private society of the National Monument to George Washington came to the aid of the army in the second phase of construction. The monument was being completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Pond next door

“Between the George Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial is the Mirror Pond. This pond is 2000 feet long and 160 feet wide and contains 7 million gallons of water. It was created in the likeness of reservoirs in Versailles and the Taj Mahal. The construction of the pond minimizes disturbances on the surface of the water and increases the sharpness of the water reflection of the monument. " (website of the US Department of State).

Photo 13.

The steam elevators originally installed were considered unsafe for women and children, who were supposed to climb to the top of the Washington Monument only through the internal stairs of the structure. Now the public is taking the elevator up to the monument.

Incidents

In 1982, 66-year-old Norman Mayer, a nuclear disarmament activist, drove up to the monument in a van and threatened to blow it up in protest against the arms race. As a result, after negotiations, Mayer was shot by the police, who, according to her, aimed at the engine of the van, but not at Mayer. Meyer's explosives and accomplices were not found.

Photo 14.

Free

The Washington Monument is open daily except July 4 and December 25. In summer (from May 31st to September 6th) it is open to visitors from 9 am to 10 pm. In winter, the building closes at 17:00. The entrance to the monument is free, but you need to get a ticket. All the latest information on the Washington Monument page on the US National Park Service website;

When at UNESCO?

Unlike another famous US monument - the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Washington Monument is still not included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, where the New York statue has been included since 1984.

The review was prepared using materials from the magazine America from the archive of Portalostranah.ru, the website of the US Department of State for Russia infousa.ru and the Russian broadcasting of Voice of America.

Photo 15.

Before the appearance of the Eiffel Tower, the monument was the tallest structure on the planet. You can go upstairs by elevator or stairs, however, for this you have to walk 896 feet. On the east side of the top of the obelisk, the marble veneer has two words carved in Latin, ‘Laus Deo’, which means ‘Praise be to God’, and every new day in the United States begins with the sun's rays illuminating the inscription.

Commander-in-Chief George Washington led the Continental Army to victory in the American War of Independence, which the Americans fought against Great Britain from 1775 to 1783, and on April 30, 1789, became the first American president. Today he is ranked among the founding fathers of the nation.

Photo 16.

Today, the Washington Monument is a hollow column with a top in the form of a tetrahedral pyramid. Upstairs there is an observation deck with eight windows that face all four cardinal points. The monument is faced with 189 memorial marble slabs that were donated by famous personalities, institutions, organizations, cities and even countries. At the initial stage of construction, one such slab, among other things, was donated by Pope Pius IX (Pope Pius the Ninth), but she was unlucky - it has not survived until our days.

The stove was stolen and destroyed by representatives of the anti-Catholic American organization Know Nothing party, who were so frightened by the thought of the invasion of Irish Catholic immigrants that they tried to resist it for a decade and a half. If the Dunno had lasted another hundred years, they would have probably been horrified when John F. Kennedy became President of the United States. Curiously, active Dunno members were able to gain control of the monument construction organization by purchasing a controlling stake, which delayed the completion of the project for a long time.

Photo 17.

Visible crack in the Washington monument from the 2011 earthquake

If the monument was paid to participate in every film in which it “starred”, it would have recouped its construction costs long ago. So, in the recent blockbuster ’2012 ′, the monument was destroyed by an earthquake, and then a tsunami passed through its ruins. Interestingly, as a result of the Virginia earthquake in 2011, a crack actually appeared on one of the plates of the monument.

Photo 18.

Now the monument is under the administration of the US National Park Service, which in 1998-2000 carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the building, when the monument was completely covered with scaffolding.

Photo 19.

Photo 20.

Photo 21.

Washington Memorial - famous monument the first president of the United States and one of the founding fathers of the American nation. It is a huge granite stele white, towering in the center of the capital. This significant building looks to match George Washington - a great personality who has left an indelible mark on world history.

The attraction was built in the historical part of the city, on the territory of the National Mall.

Finding it will not be difficult, since the structure is installed in the very center of the capital. The White House is 900 m north of it, and the Capitol is 2.2 km away.

The Washington Monument is located at 2 15th St NW, DC 20024. The exact geographic coordinates of the object are: 38.889490; -77.035347.

History of creation

The stele is, first of all, the memory of the 1st President of America. It is also a symbol of respect and recognition from the American people for a person who made an invaluable contribution to the history of modern America, liberated the country from colonialists and fought against slavery.

The monument was erected between 1848 and 1884. However, the process of its creation began much earlier - in 1832, on the day of the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. That year, on the initiative of the city's residents, the Society for the Erection of the Monument was founded and the collection of donations for the construction began.

In the mid-30s. XIX Art. managed to raise $ 28,000. The project of the memorial was entrusted to Robert Mills of South Carolina. Initially, the architect wanted to build a grandiose colonnade around the monument and install several statues. However, the plan he developed did not suit the society, since it would take $ 1,000,000 to bring Mills' architectural plan to life. Therefore, the collection of donations continued until 1848 - until the amount necessary to start construction was collected.

Due to the constant lack of funds and problems with collecting donations, only the stele was erected, without statues and a circular colonnade. Despite this, it is still considered one of the greatest structures in the world.

Obelisk construction

The monument to George Washington was erected in the Egyptian style. The main building material is granite, the cladding is white Maryland marble. The top is made in the form of a four-sided glass pyramid. The base is flanked by 50 flags representing each state in the United States.

The inside of the stele is hollow, without any decorations and cladding. On the 1st floor there is a small hall with an elevator and access to the stairs.

General information about the attraction:

Height: 169 m.
Weight: 91,000 tons.
Number of stone slabs used in construction: 36,500 pcs.
Wall thickness: from 0.45 to 4.6 m.
Foundation width: 16.8 m.

The obelisk to the first President of the United States is one of the tallest stone structures in the world. 897 steps lead to its top, and everyone can climb them. Visiting the attraction is free. Despite this, tourists still need to get a ticket that gives permission to enter the site.

Some interesting facts:

Commemorative stones

The complex contains 188 original slabs, which were received by the Washington Monument Society from various sponsors of the world and from each of the states of the country. Among them:

The "Chinese stone" laid at the base of the memorial. It was donated by Christians from the Middle Kingdom. On its surface is a description of Washington taken from a treatise by Xu Jiyu.
Plates from the Anti-Alcohol Society, Greenpeace, and the American Indian Association.
The Alabama Stone is the first commemorative object included in the construction of the obelisk in 1849.

There is a time capsule at the base of the memorial. It contains the message of the presidents of the United States, the Bible, the text of the Constitution, etc.

At the beginning of the construction of the monument, a memorial plate was donated for its facing by Pope Pius IX. Unfortunately, she was kidnapped and destroyed by members of the anti-Catholic Know Nothing society, created by the American Nationalist Party.

Also, the complex was supposed to include a stone presented to the capital of the United States of America from the Ryukyu Kingdom independent of Japan. But the gift never made it to Washington.

Observation deck

If you wish, you can climb to the top of the stele, which has an observation deck with 8 windows facing 4 cardinal points. A high-speed elevator will take you to it, delivering visitors to the upper floor in 72 seconds. The glass pyramid that crowns the memorial can also be reached by stairs.

From the top of the obelisk, designed in the form of an Egyptian pyramid, a panoramic view of the sights of Washington opens:

Capitol.
The White house.
Memorials to Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

On sunny and clear days, you can see most of the capital from the observation deck.

Information for tourists

The memorial is open:

Summer: 09:00 to 22:00.
Winter, Spring and Autumn: 09:00 to 17:00.

Official weekend:

December 25 - Catholic Christmas.
July 4 - Independence Day.

Opening hours are not fixed. The building is periodically closed for modernization. The schedule is available on the official site of the attraction.

How to get to the obelisk by public transport:

By buses:
- №11Y to the stop "14th St & Jefferson Dr";
- Nos. 907, 922 and 909 to Independence and 12th SW.

There are no rules for visiting attractions for tourists. Anyone can come here and climb to the observation deck with a special permit.

George Washington is the first president of the United States of America, a legendary figure and one of the country's founding fathers. He rightfully occupies an honorable place in American history. Such a significant historical figure and monument should be just as significant. And it is, this is the most famous monument to the first President of the United States - the Washington Monument.

George Washington is so famous and revered that he is one of the four presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore.

Where is

Of course, this attraction is located in the heart of the United States in the city of Washington, 2200 meters west of the Capitol and 900 meters south of the White House.

Geographic coordinates 38.889490, -77.035347

general description

The Washington Monument is a flat, straight, tetrahedral pillar 169.046 meters high. Its upper part ends with a tetrahedral pyramid covered with aluminum.

Today, this giant obelisk is visible from almost all points of the American capital. It is surrounded by fifty flagpoles with the flags of the fifty US states.

The weight of the monument is 90,854 tons. It consists of 36491 stone blocks. The wall thickness of the monument ranges from 4.6 meters at the base to 18 inches (just over 45 cm) at the top. The width of the monument at the base is 16.8 meters.

The main building material was white marble from Maryland and Massachusetts, but granite and metal frame elements were also used in the construction. A staircase of 897 steps is laid in the stone thickness of the obelisk. It leads to the observation deck at the top.

The stairwell walls contain 193 commemorative stones from all 50 states and foreign countries... Alabama introduced the first stone in 1849. Alaska was the last state to place its stone. In addition, there are stones donated by different people from all over the world, different societies, cities and states.

For example, a stone from Maryland

In addition to the stairs, there is a more modern way to get to the top of the monument - an electric lift. Eight windows of the observation deck (2 on each side of the world) offer an incredible panorama of the American capital. From here you can see the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. In clear weather, visibility from the top of the monument reaches 50 kilometers around.

Historical background

The history of the appearance of the monument dates back to 1832, on the centenary of George Washington. Local residents have created an organization to raise funds for the construction of the monument.

A few years later, they collected an impressive amount of $ 28,000 for those times (this is about 1,000,000 modern dollars).

In 1836, architect Robert Mill won the Washington Monument Design Competition. His idea was based on the image of an ancient Egyptian obelisk, increased to an incredible height (recall, this is a little more than 169 meters). Until the appearance of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Washington Monument was considered the tallest structure on the planet, and now it is the tallest structure made of stone.

Washington Monument - tallest stone structure in the world

Mill's original design included, in addition to the obelisk, a semicircular colonnade with a rotunda in the spirit of ancient Greek temples. It was assumed that this building will become a kind of pantheon of America. It was planned to arrange 30 niches in the piers between the columns, where statues of prominent American figures and heroes of the struggle for independence would be installed, and the dome of the rotunda was to be crowned with a bronze statue of George Washington dressed in a toga on a triumphal chariot. Subsequently, Mill's project was redesigned, and today many consider it fortunate that the rotunda planned by Mill was never built.

The cornerstone of the monument was installed on July 4, 1848, but construction was soon interrupted due to lack of funds and organizational turmoil. Then she broke out Civil War... Only in 1876, work on the construction of the monument was resumed. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas L. Casey, who led the construction, substantially changed Mills' original plan, completely abandoning the colonnade and rotunda and focusing all his efforts on building the obelisk. For him, the marble had to be transported from a different quarry than originally. Today, it is clearly visible that at about 50 m, the color of the obelisk changes, marking the border from which Mills' successors began work in 1876.

The monument was consecrated on February 21, 1885 and officially opened on October 9, 1888, almost 30 years after the death of the architect.

Washington Monument in Tourism

In summer, the attraction is available to tourists from 9:00 to 22:00. The rest of the time is 9:00 to 17:00. The days off are July 4 (Independence Day) and December 25 (Catholic Christmas).

Visiting the monument is free, but a special pass is required.
About 1,000,000 people visit the monument annually. But the record for attendance is 1966. Then the monument was visited by 2,059,300 tourists.