Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson is one of the greatest figures in the history of the nation. The author of the Declaration of Independence was one of the founding fathers of the United States.The interior walls are engraved with inscriptions taken from the Declaration of Independence and from other writings.The site of the Memorial was originally created using landfill dredged from the Potomac River in the late 1800s. It became a popular bathing beach for Washingtonians and other locals.Construction started in 1939 and it was dedicated four years later, in 1943. Since metal was being rationed during the Second World War, a plaster statue of Jefferson was created instead. After the war, the plaster statue was replaced by a 19ft / 6m tall statue in bronze, sculpted by Rudulph Evans. 

In 1941, Rudolph Evans was commissioned to sculpt the statue of Thomas Jefferson. The statue of Jefferson looks out from the interior of the Memorial toward the White House. It was intended to represent the Age of Enlightenment and Jefferson as a philosopher and statesman. The bronze statue is 19 feet tall and weighs five tons. Adolph A. Weinman's sculpture of the five members of the Declaration of Independence drafting committee submitting their report to Congress is featured on the triangular pediment. Also noteworthy, and adorning the interior of the Memorial, are five quotations taken from Jefferson's writings that illustrate the principles to which he dedicated his life.

A firm believer in equal rights, democracy, education available to all, freedom of religion and separation between church and state, he gave form to the nascent nation still searching for its identity. Besides being a politician, Jefferson was also an architect, a writer, musician, scientist and inventor.It became apparent that the site was well suited for another high-profile memorial since it sat directly south of the White House. By 1901 the Senate Park Commission, better known as the McMillan Commission, had proposed placing a pantheon-like structure on the site hosting "the statues of the illustrious men of the nation, or whether the memory of some individual shall be honored by a monument of the first rank may be left to the future"; no action was ever taken by Congress on this issue.