The Washington Monument Bashny.Net

The Washington monument is a giant obelisk, located between the White House and the Capitol in Washington. It was built to commemorate the first American President, George Washington. The monument is a granite stele, lined with marilandica marble. Today it is the tallest stone structure in the world and the tallest obelisk: the height of the monument is 169,29 meters. There are higher monuments, but they either are not entirely stone, or they cannot be accepted as true obelisks. Anyway, in the us capital, the Washington Monument is still the tallest building.


The history of the creation of this monument. In the centenary year of George Washington, 1838, the town decided to start collecting donations for the construction of the monument, which has not yet seen the world. After a few years, a competition was announced for the best project. Won architect Robert mills, who offered the astounding project of the obelisk on top of which was supposed to put a statue of the first President. The bottom of the obelisk was to be surrounded by a circular colonnade, surmounted by a chariot, driven by would – who do you think? Yes, it is! George Washington! And the circumference of the colonnade, mills decided to put statues of three dozen leaders of the American revolution.


The project was truly monumental. But the cost was prohibitive. So in 1848, the townspeople decided to raise the obelisk itself, and the question of the colonnade was left for later. In the end it was never built. After the laying of the monument it was decided to collect donations of not only money, but also marble slabs – ideally, each state had to provide your own plate, thus realizing their participation in the construction of the national monument.


Not without its oddities. Society of Honor and Moderation on your stone smashed the inscription "We will never buy, sell or to use as a beverage any liquid containing malt, wine, cider or any other spirits". This stone was the first in a series of events, stop building on two decades. In the early 1850's, the Pope Pius IX made himself a stone slab as a donation for construction. And in March 1854, members of the anti-Catholic American party "know-nothings" aforesaid stone dragged and drowned in the Potomac. Then they also bought a controlling stake in society for the erection of a monument, after Congress stopped his donations and withdrew from the construction of $ 200,000 (in those days it was an enormous amount). Then the situation stabilized, and in the end, 6 December 1884 was installed cornice stone of the monument, and construction was completed. The monument officially opened October 9, 1888. Within a year after that the monument was the tallest structure in the world, but then in Paris we completed the construction of the Eiffel tower, which took the laurels at the monument.


The result is a hollow column with a quadrangular pyramid at the top. The pyramid is made of aluminum, which in the nineteenth century valued almost on a par with silver. Before you install it on top of the monument, it was placed on display to the public – it is interesting that some "artisans" climbed to the top of it, then honestly could brag that he "stepped over the Washington monument". Is the Washington monument at the top made the observation. But inside the monument, on the site of the elevators, is the exact bronze copy of the marble statue of Washington work Houdon.

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