Independence Ave. and 23rd St. SW
202/426-6841
www.nps.gov/linc

HOURS: Daily 24 hours;
rangers on duty daily 9:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m.;
tours daily on the hour 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

COST: Free

This colossal monument to the humble 16th president is modeled after a Greek temple, a limestone and marble tribute completed in 1922 to honor the man whose leadership abolished slavery and kept the United States intact despite a devastating civil war.

Designed by architect Henry Bacon, the Lincoln Memorial was built on land reclaimed from the Potomac River and contains the iconic seated sculpture of Lincoln by Daniel Chester French, which, despite its massive size of 19 feet tall, humanizes the mythical man, with its pensive stare and lined, sorrowful face.

The Great Emancipator’s eloquence is also celebrated here: The words of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural speech are etched onto the memorial’s walls. Views from the top of the memorial’s 57 steps are among the city’s finest, and the landing just 18 steps below also marks one of the city’s most historic places—the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. stood during the 1963 March on Washington.

The Lincoln Memorial features a tiny museum on the first floor, an air-conditioned area that contains restrooms and serves as a cool refuge for the overheated during the sweaty summer months.