The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., honors Thomas Jefferson as principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s third president. Planned in earnest during the 1930s and advanced after Congress created a memorial commission in 1935, it was designed by John Russell Pope and completed by his partners after his death. Built from 1939 to 1943 on the Tidal Basin in a neoclassical style inspired by the Roman Pantheon and Jefferson’s University of Virginia rotunda, it features marble columns, a dome, inscriptions, and a central statue installed in 1947. Its creation sparked disputes over design, location, and the loss of cherry trees, yet it became one of Washington’s best-known monuments.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Arlington, Virginia · USA