Washington Monument (1700)

The Washington Monument is an obelisk-shaped building in Washington D.C. that was built to honour the first President of the United States of America, George Washington. This 555-foot-tall, beautiful marble obelisk in the form of a big pencil is one of the tallest stone monuments in the world and the tallest building in the District of Columbia – by law, no other building in D. C. is allowed to be taller.

Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the architect who designed Washington, D.C., planned to have a prominent statue honouring George Washington, "Father of his Country" near the White House and Capitol. But exactly how to honour the first President of the USA was not an easy decision, and soon the Washington National Monument Society was formed with the purpose of deciding upon an appropriate memorial. This group had a design competition, and in 1836, the architect Robert Mills' obelisk design won the contest.

The cornerstone for the Monument was laid in 1848, but public controversy, lack of funds, and then the Civil War, delayed its completion for many years. The difference in the colour of the marble where work was stopped and then resumed after some decades is apparent to the visitors. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers, who started working on the monument after the Civil War, determined that the foundation was not sufficient for the 600-foot-tall obelisk that was originally planned, so a 555-foot-monument was built.

The Washington Monument was finally opened to the public in 1888. The giant obelisk contains 36,491 blocks and weighs 90,854 tons. The width at the base of the monument is 55 ft; thickness of the monument walls at the base is 15 ft or 4.57 meters. Inside the Washington Monument are an elevator and an 897-step stairway. There is an observation deck at the height of 500 feet. At the top of the monument there is a nine-inch tall aluminium pyramid (when the monument was built, aluminium was newly-discovered, scarce, and very expensive). Lightning rods at the top protect the monument from lightning strikes.

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