Thursday, April 28, 2011

New Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC

From the March 30th USA Today.

After 15 years of planning and nearly five years of construction. the MLK, Jr., National memorial will be officially open August 28, 2011, the anniversary of his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. It features three granite sculptures overlooking the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.

he is the first non-president to be honored on the Mall.

Visitors will enter through the "Mountain of Despair and then go to the "Stone of Hope." This is a reference to a line from his "I Have a Dream" speech.

There will be a 3,000 square-foot bookstore, two inscription walls with King's messages.

Landscaping will have Yoshino cherry trees and 35 elm trees.

The statue of Dr. King is 28 feet 6 inches tall (dwarfing those of Jefferson (19 feet) Lincoln (19 feet). It was authorized by Congress in 1996 and sculpted in China by Lei Yi Xin.

Cost of the memorial is $120 million, mostly raised by private donations. Site covers 4 acres.

Something Else to See in DC. --Cooter

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