Washington Monument
obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Washington Monument is a large, tall, white obelisk near the west part of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was built to remember George Washington, who was the first President of the United States. It is the tallest stone structure in the world, and is 555 feet 5⅛ inches (169.294 m) tall. The monument is made of marble, granite, and sandstone. The monument was started in 1848 but was not finished until 1884. This was because the American Civil War started soon after construction started. Construction continued after the war ended, but the type of sandstone was changed. Because of this, about part of the way up, you can see a change in color of the monument. The monument opened on February 21, 1885 after 19 years total of construction.
| Washington Monument | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Washington, D.C., United States |
| Coordinates | 38°53′22″N 77°2′7″W[1]: 6, 82, 86 |
| Area | 106.01 acres (0.429 km²) |
| Established | January 31, 1848 |
| Visitors | 467,550 (in 2005) |
Plans of building the monument began even before Washington was elected president.[2]
Visitors to Washington, D.C., can tour the inside of the Washington Monument. There is an elevator which takes people to the top. From the top, it is possible to see the National Mall, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial.
On Tuesday, August 23, 2011, the Monument was cracked by an earthquake. A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Northern Virginia, about 135 km (84 mi) from Washington D.C.[3] After inspection, cracks were found at the top of the Monument. Initially Monument and the plaza around it was closed indefinitely however after repair, it has been re-opened in Oct 2019, for visitors. There were early reports that the Monument was leaning. The National Park Service said that while there was damage, the Monument is not leaning.[4]
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
