Abraham Lincoln Memorial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Abraham Lincoln Memorial - Essay Example The area between the Capitol building and the Potomac river was chosen as the site for the construction as many of Sir Lincoln’s aides wanted the memorial to be built in a serene and distinguished location (Abraham Lincoln Memorial). The memorial, built with inspiration drawn from Greek temples, is 190 feet long, 119 feet wide with a height of almost 100 feet. The memorial is surrounded by 38 fluted Doric columns out of which 36 columns represented the 36 Union states that were present at the time of Lincoln’s death and two in-antis columns were present at the entrance (Lincoln Memorial). The stones used in the building were brought from various states with white Colorado marble used for the exterior, limestone from Indiana being used for the interior walls, pink marble from Tennessee used for the flooring, and marbles from Alabama used for the ceiling (Abraham Lincoln Memorial). The central hall located between the north and south chambers of the memorial houses the st atue of Lincoln in a seated position and was sculpted under the supervision of Daniel Chester French who was a leading American sculptor. (Abraham Lincoln Memorial; Lincoln Memorial) The height of the statue is 19 feet, though the original plan was for only 10 feet, and it weighs 175 tons (Lincoln Memorial).