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The World War II Memorial Design Concept[For illustrations, see http://www.abmc.gov, www.savethemall.org, or www.committeeof100.net ] In 1993 Congress authorized a World War II memorial and designated the American Battle Monuments Commission, a federal agency, to sponsor the site selection and construction process. In 1995 the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, two federal review agencies, approved a 7.6-acre site at the Rainbow Pool, the oval-shaped pool at the eastern end of the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool and situated about halfway between the Lincoln and Washington Monument. Following the rejection by these agencies of Friedrich St. Florian's competition-winning design concept in 1997, St. Florian submitted a new concept and won approval in 1998 and again in 1999. Final approval could come later this summer and groundbreaking is planned for November of this year. According to Congress, the memorial's purpose was "to honor members of the Armed Forces who served in World War II and to commemorate the participation of the United States in that war." The memorial's sponsor, the American Battle Monuments Commission, states further that the memorial will "honor all military veterans of the war, the citizens on the 'home front,' the nation at large, and the high moral purpose and idealism that motivated the nation's call to arms." It is worth noting that while this is supposed to be a war memorial - and not a "veterans memorial" like the Vietnam and Korean memorials -, nonetheless both Congress and ABMC stated that the focus of the memorial was to be not on war or victory per se but on American ideals and on the united efforts of Americans under arms and on the homefront. Architect Friedrich St. Florian's second design, however, appears to take his cue from neither this pluralistic message nor from the Mall's existing character and monuments. Instead, he employs an altogether different architectural and iconographical language. He envisions a granite plaza lowered six feet below grade and ringed by 56 17-foot high stone pillars hung with bronze wreaths. The plaza is flanked at the north and south by two 41-foot high arches. At the western end of the plaza - closest to the Lincoln Memorial - is what the architect St. Florian calls the "sacred precinct". This curved niche contains a sloped panel (a wall of upheaval) and an eternal flame, while in front of it is a large coffin-shaped "cenotaph". The triumphalist symbols and acres of granite envision in effect a military staging ground clearly demarcated from the rest of the Mall. They appear to be inspired directly by the battlefield monuments and military cemeteries typically constructed overseas by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the memorial's sponsor. These projects often include classical elements, triumphal arches, formal plazas for the staging of military ceremonies, and a collective Tomb of the Unknown. And in fact the proposed design would fit comfortably in Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac. On the Mall, however, and between the Washington and Lincoln Monuments, it introduces a new belligerent and militaristic theme with uncomfortable associations with the authoritarian regimes Americans fought during World War Next: The Effect on the Mall |
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