In a city like Washington DC with only about 200 years’ history behind it, there is nothing ancient by way of tourist attraction, excepting, of course, the antiques in museums. But the city can boast of a number of monuments, memorials and statues built in honor of its departed leaders whose ideals and sacrifices have influenced the nation’s ethos and molded its history.
Early pioneers like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as well as contemporary leaders like J.F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, have left their footprints in the sands of time. It was interesting to visit the memorials of these champions of freedom and democracy.
The Washington Monument is a 555-feet tall cenotaph which was started in 1848, but completed only after 40 years. At the time of its completion, this marble edifice was the tallest structure in the world.
Those days only very hardy youngsters could climb the 897 steps to the top. But after the installation of an elevator, going up the Washington Monument for the breathtaking view has become a fancy for every visitor to the capital of America.
Arlington National Cemetery is a sentimental shrine for Americans like Rajghat for Indians; a place of homage for visitors. Across river Potomac lies the 500 acre landscaped burial ground and final resting place for 200,000 American soldiers. Row upon row of white head-stones extend as far as the eyes can see.
In the same cemetery rest leaders like President J.F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, William Taft, Justice Wendell Holmes, astronaut Vigil Grissome, boxer Joe Louis and Pierre L Enfant, the man who planned the city of Washington. J.F. Kennedy’s grave is a somber granite platform with a low wall bearing quotations from his speeches. An eternal flame burns here. There is a tomb of the unknown soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country. The inscription on the tomb is very touching: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”
The highest military honor, the 21 gun salute is enacted here day and night. A soldier paces 21 steps and then stops, and turns towards the tomb. He waits there 21 seconds, and then paces back.
In the West Potomac Park stands the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, spectacular and simple, with a 19 foot statue of the third President of America. Dedicated in 1943, the classical dome and the colonnade are modeled after the pantheon of Rome.
The walls of this memorial are filled with quotes from the Declaration of Independence. One of the inscriptions says: “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
The Lincoln Memorial is described as a favorite meditation spot and the Mecca of the oppressed. There was, however, nothing there in my opinion that could offer solace to the oppressed.
It has the classic look of a Greek temple. A 19-foot marble statue of Abraham Lincoln overlooks the Reflecting Pool. The wall surrounding the statue is inscribed with Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg speech.
“In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the nation, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever,” says the dedication on the Memorial.
The Iwo Jima Memorial is a tribute to the American Marines, the well known crack troubleshooters in the army, who have died for the country. This 78-feet statue is the biggest cast- bronze statue in the world.
Created by Felix W. de Weldon, copying a famous photograph by Joseph Rosenthal, it shows the 5 marines and the sailor who raised USA’s flag on Mt Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.
On the western side of the Capitol, is a white marble monument depicting America, grief-stricken over the sailors lost at sea, weeping on the shoulders of history. Called the Peace Monument, the symbolic ambience of this monument is haunting.
Among the more recent memorials is the JFK Centre for Performing Arts. The beautiful building on 17 acres of land overlooking the Potomac comprises the 1200-seat Eisenhower Theatre for staging dramas; the 2,750/ seat concert halt for the National Symphony Orchestra and a 2,300 seat Opera House for presenting operas and ballets. A terrace theatre named “Intimate” for staging concerts and plays is a gift from Japan.
“Sheer Madness,” a hit comedy, running here for years together continues to be very popular and seems set to run on indefinitely. The hilarious whodunit lets the audience play armchair detectives by spotting clues, questioning suspects and solving the murder!
The American Film Institute presents outstanding films here throughout the year. This independent, self- supporting centre depends on ticket sales and private donations for its maintenance. Its roof terrace provides a fine view of the Capitol as well as the Potomac.
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial is a modern V-shaped wall of polished black granite. The concept behind its novel design adapted by a 21 year old Yale student Maya Lin, is to show the memorial as thought-provoking, contemplative and harmonizing with the surroundings and to have space enough to contain the names of 58,183 people who have either died or remained missing in the Vietnam War.
Later in 1984, a bronze sculpture of 3 young servicemen, depicting the strength and the vulnerability of those who served in Vietnam, was added here. Martin Luther King Memorial is a library with 27 branches. It provides exhibition halls, free programs and automated indexes. Special collections of books for the blind and the physically handicapped are also found there.
It is said that the biggest business in Washington DC is the Federal Government itself; and its 2 important wings are Defence and Diplomacy. Diplomacy is described as sugar coated intrigue. In this high-profile international capital, it is practiced in all its finesse and cunning.
The dramatis personae in this drama on the world stage are the 2,200 diplomats representing 170 countries and their counterparts in the State Department, each one plotting, conspiring, and spying on the other with consummate skill and shrewdness.
In this crowd, there are very small and relatively unheard-of countries like Birkina Faso, Belize and Djibouti.
Located in Foggy Bottoms, once a desolate marsh, the State Department has the JFK Centre, George Washington University and the Watergate Complex in its neighborhood. It has 7 (elegantly furnished) diplomatic reception rooms. Visitors may have to return home after satisfying themselves by seeing the desk at which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence!
Most of the embassies are clustered in Kaloram and Massachusetts Avenue. The Russian and Chinese embassies are a little detached and away from each other.
If the Indian Chancery situated on 2017, Massachusetts Avenue does not find a high place on the diplomatic roll- call, it is at least tops for the sheer magnificence of its appearance. Indeed, Massachusetts Avenue with its long line of embassy buildings on both sides, with flags and plaques of the countries, looks like a United Nations Zone. Washington is also the Headquarters of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
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