Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial stands at the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., designed by the architect Henry Bacon and dedicated in May 1922 as a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln. Built in a neoclassical style as a classical temple, its exterior colonnade of 36 Doric columns represents the 36 states of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. Inside, a colossal seated marble statue of Lincoln by the sculptor Daniel Chester French, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, dominates the central chamber, flanked by inscriptions of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's second inaugural address. The memorial has become closely associated with the American civil rights movement, most famously as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 I Have a Dream speech during the March on Washington.