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A Monument to Democracy
The Mall in the 20th Century
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View of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol |
The McMillan Commission's siting of the Lincoln Memorial reinforced the historic symbolism of the Mall, as described in 1911 by Henry Bacon, architect of the Lincoln Memorial:
"...the site in Potomac Park was the best one for a monument to Abraham Lincoln -- we have at one end of the axis [of the Mall] a beautiful building which is a monument to the United States Government [the Capitol]. At the other end of the axis we have the possibility of a Memorial to the man who saved that Government [Lincoln] and between the two is a monument to its founder [Washington]. All three of these structures, stretching in one grand sweep from Capitol Hill to the Potomac river, will lend, one to the others, the associations and memories connected with each, and each will have its value increased by being on the one axis and having visual relation to the other."
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Lincoln Memorial and grounds in 1943, with Main Navy buildings to the north (right) connected by bridges over the Reflecting Pool to additional WWII-era buildings to the south
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The long Reflecting Pool and smaller, oval shaped Rainbow Pool between and connecting the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and were completed soon after the Lincoln Memorial's dedication in 1922. The cross-shaped Reflecting Pool shown in the McMillan Plan was simplified to a rectangular form, to accommodate WWI-era temporary buildings to the north. During WWII, these buildings housed Main Navy, the nerve center of the war effort, and were connected by bridges over the Reflecting Pool to additional WWII buildings south of the Lincoln Memorial grounds.
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View of the Lincoln Memorial and grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
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Vistas across the Reflecting and Rainbow Pools toward Lincoln's Doric temple and the Washington obelisk, with reflections of both monuments on their waters, are some of the most symbolic and majestic in the nation.
Next: A Public Space
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