Tuesday, April 01, 2008

polymath on the Potomac

The cherry blossoms are peaking in Washington, DC this week. My wife and kids took some time during their Spring break to visit the monuments on Friday, the day before all the crowds showed up for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. My brother-in-law was also there and took this picture of the Jefferson Memorial that is absolutely postcard-perfect.



The Jefferson has always been my favorite memorial. There's something about its location and its architecture that speaks to me. I was surprised to learn yesterday that it's design was completed by a committee after the original architect died. I happened across a show on the Smithsonian Channel about the various memorials in and around D.C. They also said that when the Jefferson Memorial opened, on the third president's 200th birthday, bronze was too expensive. They used a plaster statue painted to look like bronze. After the war ended, a real bronze statue was installed. Nobody knows what happened to the plaster original. It's got to be in somebody's garage somewhere.

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1 Comments:

Blogger bean said...

postcard perfect indeed....great photo!!!

4/02/2008  

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