AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. coins and a copy of the Constitution) was laid in a ceremony attended by thousands, including a then little-known U.S. ![]() On July 4, 1848, the monument’s cornerstone (embedded with a box containing such items as a portrait of George Washington, newspapers, U.S. A statue of Washington driving a horse-drawn chariot would reside above the main entrance and a 600-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk would rise from the pantheon’s center. Robert Mills’ winning design called for a pantheon (a temple-like building) featuring 30 stone columns and statues of Declaration of Independence signers and Revolutionary War heroes. The original design for the monument was much different than what ended up being built. Patent Office, now home to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. ![]() The group, headed by Chief Justice John Marshall, organized a design competition and eventually named as the winner architect Robert Mills (1781-1855), whose credits include the U.S. In 1833, a small group of Washingtonians, unhappy that a proper memorial to the president had not yet been produced in America’s capital city, established the Washington National Monument Society to raise private funds for the project. After Washington died in 1799, Congress considered building him a pyramid-shaped mausoleum to be housed in the Capitol rotunda however, the plan never came to fruition. However, after Washington became president, he scrapped the plans for his memorial, as federal government funds were tight and he didn’t want to use public money for the project. In 1783, the Continental Congress voted to erect a statue of George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American army during the Revolutionary War, in the nation’s yet-to-be constructed permanent capital city. Plans for the monument began even before Washington was elected president.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |