Washington DC, the capital of the United States, was intentionally designed to impress visitors. It does. The city is full of monuments to various events in American (and some non-American) history - there are many more than those covered here.
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| National World War II Memorial, Washington Monument in the background. |
Probably every war the USA ever fought has a memorial. Interestingly, they seem reflect the perception of these wars in American public consciousness. The National World War II Memorial is a victory parade sculpted in Marble, a homage to the enormous strength of the United States. No human characters are depicted, only laurels of victory accompanied by names of battlefields.
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| Korean War Veterans Memorial. |
The Korean war was not as obvios a victory for The US. The Korean War Veterans Memorial made a great impression to me, because, as I understand it, it depicts the soldiers as not only heroes but also victims. The faces of very lifelike statues seem, at least to me, depict the fear, anguish and confusion those who fought must have felt.
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| Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I wondered if this couple was looking for a particular name - perhaps a brother, a friend, a schoolmate? Their generation supplied the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. |
The Vietnam War ended over 40 years ago, but for many Americans it still is a difficult, controversial and divisive matter. At best, it is seen as an embarrassment and a failure, at worst, an imperialistic raid the United States should never have participated at all. It hardly is surprising, then, that the opinions on Vietnam Veterans Memorial are divided, too. The monument consist of nothing but black stone walls, bearing inscribed names of all American military personnel who died in Vietnam in 1959-1975, orderd by time of death. The opponents have called the memorial "a nihilistic slab of stone", among other things: on the other hand, it has been included on a top 10 -list of American architecture.
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| Washington Monument. |
Many presidents have their memorials as well. The most visible one is - unsurprisingly - the 169-meter (555-feet) obelisk erected in honor of the first president, George Washington. In a way, it is also a memorial to setbacks. The construction began in 1848, but was stopped in 1854 due to lack of funds. It took 25 years before it resumed. An embarrassing stub stood right in the center of the capital city, visible from the president's White House. The break is visible in the completed Monument, as the marble used in early stages was sourced from different quarries than the stones used later. Consequently, the lower third is of a lighter color than the rest of the obelisk. In 1885, the monument was finally completed. At the time, it was the tallest building in the world. The troubles did not end there: recently the monument was damaged by an earthquake in 2011, and has been closed to the public since 2016 because of elevator malfunction.
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| Jefferson Memorial. |
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| Jefferson himself. |
The monument to Thomas Jefferson is a cupola-topped building, in which third president and the author of the Declaration of independence stands as a larger-than-life-sized statue. The walls are inscribed with quotes from his writings. At the time of our visit, there was a demonstration going on in front of the monument. Apparently, this is not exceptional. This time the demonstrators were motivated by issues related to health care.
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| Abraham Lincoln. |
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| The site where Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech is marked on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial. |
Abraham Lincoln, who presided over the victory in the Civil war, who freed the slaves and who died by the bullet of an assassin, is probably the second most admired president among the Americans, after George Washington. No surprise then that his monument is quite impressive, too. It looks a little like a Greek or Roman temple and houses a larger-than-life statue of Lincoln. The Lincoln memorial, too, has seen numerous demonstrations. One of the most famous is the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom, best remembered for Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.
All monuments mentioned above are situated relatively close to each other along the National Mall. They can easily be explored on foot, but the monumental cale of Washington DC may be deceptive. Lincoln Memorial, for example, may seem to be right next to World War II Memorial, but they are actually about half a mile apart.
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| In addition to wars and presidents, there are monuments to many others, like scientist Albert Einstein, but I still couldn't figure out the theory of relativity. |
We visited the monuments of Washington DC in May and June 2017.
