Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is the towering marble obelisk at the heart of the National Mall, built to honor George Washington — commander of the Continental Army and first President of the United States. At 555 feet it was the tallest structure in the world when it was finished in 1884, and it remains the world's tallest stone structure and tallest true obelisk. Its shaft, visibly two-toned where construction halted for more than two decades, is one of the most recognizable silhouettes in America.

Plans to honor George Washington with a national monument date back to the 1780s, but decades of disagreement over design and funding delayed the project. The privately organized Washington National Monument Society finally chose a design by architect Robert Mills and laid the cornerstone on July 4, 1848, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries including a young congressman named Abraham Lincoln.

Construction stalled in 1854 when funds ran out and political turmoil engulfed the monument society; work sat abandoned at about 150 feet for more than 20 years, through the Civil War. When building resumed in 1879 under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, marble was sourced from a different quarry — producing the distinct change in color still visible a third of the way up the shaft. The capstone was set in December 1884, and the monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885, opening to the public in 1888.

Rising 555 feet 5-1/8 inches, the obelisk was the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower surpassed it in 1889. It is capped with a 100-ounce pyramid of aluminum — then a rare and precious metal — and reached inside by 897 steps or a modern elevator. Managed by the National Park Service, the monument was damaged by a 2011 earthquake and later repaired, and today anchors the Mall between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.