10 fascinating facts about the Washington Monument
February 21, 2019 | by NCC Staff
The iconic Washington Monument is celebrating its birthday today. Learn how it took 40 years to complete the project, and the surprising connections it has to the Pope, Abraham Lincoln, and the Constitution.
The Washington Monument officially was dedicated on February 21, 1885. In a speech written for that event by Robert Winthrop, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony in 1845, there was one memorable line: “An earthquake may shake its foundations … but the character which it commemorates and illustrates is secure.”
That’s not the only interesting fact or coincidence about the iconic monument. Here are 10 more fascinating facts about this American symbol.
1. James Madison had an early role in getting the monument project started. In 1833, the Washington National Monument Society, a private organization, was among early groups promoting the idea for the tribute to the first President. Madison along with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall started the society.
2. The first monument design featured a rotunda and a Roman-like George Washington. The initial winning bid came from architect Robert Mills, whose designed a flat-topped obelisk with a statue of Washington in a chariot, along with statues of 30 Founding Fathers. The current obelisk design was proposed in 1876.
people, and a container that held copies of the Constitution, the Declarati3. The Masons and the Pope were involved with the monument. Yes, the Free Masons were involved in the cornerstone ceremony and they used Washington’s Masonic symbols in the ceremony. At the 1848 ceremony were 20,000on of Independence and other objects was buried in the cornerstone.
4. Abraham Lincoln was at the 1848 cornerstone ceremony. The guest list included three James Buchanan, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Dolley Madison and Alexander Hamilton’s widow, Betsey Hamilton, and of course, the then-current President, James K. Polk.
5. So how does the Pope fit into all of this? The Society asked for people to donate ceremonial stones as part of the construction process. Pope Pius IX donated a memorial stone of marble, which infuriated the anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party. The Know-Nothings got their revenge by rigging the leadership election for the Washington National Monument Society. Congress cut off monument funding for 5 years until the Know Nothings left the group.
6. Nothing happened to the monument for a 22-year period. After the Know-Nothing takeover in the 1850s, the monument became stalled to the point that it was used as a slaughter yard and cattle pen during the Civil War. Congress took over the project in 1876.
7. It took the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get the job done. The Engineers worked with Lt. Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey to modify the original ornate plans. The monument’s stripped-down, lean look was part of a cost-cutting effort. On December 6, 1884, an aluminum cap used as a lightning-protection device was placed on top. In February 1885, the dedication ceremony took place.
8. The Monument was the world’s tallest building when it was dedicated. The Washington Monument as dedicated stood at 555 feet 5 inches tall. The Cologne Cathedral had been the world’s tallest man-made structure. The Eiffel Tower soon surpassed the Monument.
9. The Monument is an engineering marvel. The Monument’s marble blocks are held together by just gravity and friction, and no mortar was used in the process.
10. The Washington Monument: Movie star. Nothing says “location shot” in a film like the Washington Monument, especially when the icon is under attack from aliens and terrorists, or used as a backdrop in a thriller or mystery. But maybe the most memorable appearance, in a real-life moment, occurred in August 1963, when Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the mall in Washington, with the Lincoln Memorial stage facing the Monument.
Sin embargo, una de las piedras conmemorativas fue la que desencadenó los acontecimientos que acabaron con la paralización de la donación del Congreso y, consecuentemente, con la construcción del monumento. A principio de la década de 1850, el papa Pío IX contribuyó con un bloque de mármol. En marzo de 1854, miembros del partido estadounidense nativista contra el catolicismo (más conocidos como Know Nothings) robaron la piedra papal en acto de protesta y supuestamente la tiraron al río Potomac. Después, para asegurarse de que el monumento cumplía su definición de "estadounidense", los Know-Nothings llevaron a cabo una elección fraudulenta para conseguir el poder de la Sociedad [cita requerida].
Algunas piedras conmemorativas en el nivel de 160 pies dentro del Monumento a Washington. Lamentablemente, la Piedra del Papa nunca llegó a ser erigida. (Fuente de la foto: Servicio de Parques Nacionales)
En la tarde del 5 de marzo de 1854, nueve hombres asociados con el grupo Know-Nothing se acercaron sigilosamente a la base del Monumento a Washington y se llevaron un trozo de piedra bastante pesado. Los hombres llevaron la piedra a un bote que esperaba en la cuenca de marea, la rompieron en pedazos y la arrojaron en medio del Potomac.
Quizás sientas curiosidad por saber por qué ellos (¡o nosotros!) estaban interesados en una roca antigua y probablemente muy pesada. ¿De dónde exactamente vino esta piedra y por qué fue tan importante su robo y destrucción? Tal vez fue el hecho de que provenía del Papa... Es solo una suposición.
En 1833, la Sociedad del Monumento Nacional de Washington hizo un llamamiento para que se hicieran donaciones, ya sea en dinero o en piedras, para ayudar a construir y decorar el monumento que se iba a construir. “La solicitud dio como resultado una extraña colección de casi 200 piedras conmemorativas que ahora adornan las paredes interiores del monumento a lo largo de 400 de sus 555 pies”. [1]
Una de las piedras más singulares llegó a ser conocida como la Piedra del Papa, un regalo del Papa Pío IX y el Vaticano. La losa de un metro de largo de “costosos mármoles abigarrados” procedía originalmente de las ruinas del Templo de la Concordia en Roma, construido en el año 366 a. C. En la cara de la piedra estaban grabadas las palabras “De Roma”. No se trataba de una roca cualquiera. [2]
Probablemente por eso se vieron multitudes de personas buscando fragmentos de la piedra en las orillas del Potomac en los días posteriores al robo. Según un relato, “se ofrecían cinco dólares por pulgada por piezas de la piedra genuina”. [3] También había una recompensa de 500 dólares por información sobre los perpetradores. [4]
Pero, a pesar de estos incentivos, nadie fue condenado por el crimen. Pasarían casi 30 años antes de que la historia saliera a la luz, e incluso entonces existía un ambiente de secretismo. Tal vez esto no sea demasiado sorprendente, considerando que los Know-Nothings eran conocidos por ser muy reservados, además de ser antiinmigrantes y anticatólicos.
En 1883, un hombre conocido simplemente como "el tabernero" se acercó a The Washington Post y describió lo que le había sucedido a la piedra.
Nueve de nosotros hicimos el trabajo el domingo por la noche, el 5 de marzo de 1854. Asistimos a una reunión de la orden de los que no saben nada, a la que todos pertenecíamos, el martes por la noche anterior en el salón Thorn's, al lado del salón Odd Fellows en la calle Séptima. Se habló mucho sobre la vergüenza de tener una piedra de cualquier rey o potentado insertada en el monumento de un hombre que se había pronunciado contra la tiranía real, y finalmente se acordó que nueve hombres serían elegidos por sorteo para destruir la piedra.
El tabernero detalló cómo los hombres habían atado al sereno a punta de pistola, habían hecho rodar la piedra hasta el río y, al ver una señal con una linterna roja de los cómplices apostados en el Puente Largo, la habían empujado por el costado del barco. El tabernero también mencionó que, de camino al río, muchos de los hombres habían roto pequeños trozos de la piedra para guardarlos como premio. “Esa es la verdadera historia de toda la transacción”, se jactó y predijo que “si las dragas que están trabajando en el Potomac dan en el lugar correcto, pescarán algo que causará sensación”. [5]
Fiel a la palabra del tabernero, la famosa roca apareció en 1892 mientras los buzos cavaban agujeros para los nuevos pilares del Puente Largo. En su tercer viaje ese día, el buzo Harry Edwards descubrió un interesante trozo de piedra que describió como "una pieza de mármol abigarrado, cortada con precisión y bellamente pulida, estriada con vetas de color rosa y blanco". Notó un grabado gótico profundo, del que pudo distinguir las letras "Ro- t- merica". ¡Casi con certeza era la Piedra del Papa! [6]
Eso habría sido un final ordenado para la historia, excepto que la piedra, que las autoridades reservaron para su “custodia”, fue robada nuevamente unos días después. [7] ¿Reaparecería alguna vez?
En 1972, una mujer hizo una donación única al Smithsonian: un obelisco de mármol de 45 centímetros, supuestamente tallado a partir de un fragmento de la Piedra del Papa. ¿Podría ser realmente auténtico? Nadie estaba muy seguro, pero el Smithsonian lo exhibió de todos modos.
La nueva piedra del Papa, ubicada en el nivel de 340 pies. (Fuente de la foto: Servicio de Parques Nacionales)
La donante, Kathryn Wells, informó que había mantenido el obelisco escondido en su armario durante 60 años después de recibirlo como regalo de Joseph A. Ridgway, uno de sus vecinos en Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Según Wells, Ridgway (quien, por cierto, era dueño de un bar) había recibido el obelisco de su hermano, que supuestamente era uno de los nueve Know-Nothings que llevaron a cabo el robo de la Piedra del Papa en 1854.
Hmmm... interesante.
En cualquier caso, un sacerdote de Spokane (Washington) encargó una nueva “Piedra del Papa” que el Servicio de Parques Nacionales instaló en el monumento en 1982. Aunque no es la original, es un buen sustituto y recordatorio del misterioso caos que comenzó en 1854. [8]
As most readers here know, the belief held by some churches that the pope is the Anti-Christ is not new. And as my colleague Tim O'Brien, S.J., noted today, it's not going away anytime soon. While the president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (better known as "Michelle Bachman's church") argues that the belief doesn't make them anti-Catholic, 19th-century Nativists didn't care to make that distinction.
As Dan Connors, editor in chief of Catholic Digest, notes in a recent article:
[In 1875], cartoonist Thomas Nast turned the miters of bishops into crocodile mouths as the bishops—with the bodies of crocodiles in his cartoons—swarmed ashore to destroy America. (see right)
Connors continues:
Even as late as 1928, when New York Governor Al Smith ran for president, some Protestant groups feared that if Smith were elected, the pope would move to Washington and control the country. There were even groups in the 1920s who warned that the Holland Tunnel, then being dug from New York to New Jersey, was actually going from New York all the way to the Vatican, allowing the pope to enter America unseen.
Right. Because that's logical. Everyone knows the pope would have waited a few years so he could take the George Washington Bridge.
Connors also points to a fabulous piece from a Nov. 1948 issue of Catholic Digest, which includes a crazy-but-true story about Pope Pius IX and the Washington Monument. In 1853 Pius IX sent a block of marble from the Temple of Peace to be included in the Washington Monument, which was, after a bit of a struggle, finally under construction thanks to many private donations. The gift reached the U.S., but what happened afterward involves several anti-Catholic thieves, the Potomac River, and a two-decade delay in the completion of the monument. It's well worth a read. You can find a PDF of the original piece here.
n 1854 a slab of marble donated by Pope Pius IX arrived in Washington, D.C. He had it engraved “A Roma Americae,” or “From Rome to America,” as a sign of goodwill. He had sent it over to be included in the Washington Monument, which was then under construction. Many foreign governments had sent similar contributions to honor America’s first president. The Know Nothings, however, had no intention of allowing a gift from the Pope to be included in the Washington Monument. They were certain the stone was a sign of darker intentions by the Pope. So on March 9, 1854, under cover of darkness, a group of these anti-Catholics broke into the yard, stole the stone, and after damaging it with hammers they dropped it in the Potomac River. No one was ever credibly accused of the crime, despite reward offers and a public outcry. Many years later, however, after a tip, the stone was discovered… only to disappear again. But today, there is a stone from the Pope in the Washington Monument, this one was provided by Pope John Paul II in 1982.
The memorial, situated in an elm and holly grove in the southwest corner of the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences, was unveiled at the Academy's annual meeting, April 22, 1979, in honor of the centennial of Einstein's birth. At the dedication ceremony, physicist John Archibald Wheeler described the statue as "a monument to the man who united space and time into space-time...a remembrance of the man who taught us...that the universe does not go on from everlasting to everlasting, but begins with a bang."[1] The memorial is a popular spot for tourists visiting the national mall to pose for pictures.[2]
The statue depicts Einstein seated in casual repose on a three-step bench of Mount Airy (North Carolina) white granite. The bronze figure weighs approximately 4 tons and is 12 feet in height. The monument is supported by three caissons, totaling 135 tons, sunk in bedrock to a depth of 23 to 25 feet.,[3] It was cast at Modern Art Foundry, Astoria Queens, NY.
Einstein was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences in 1922, the year after he won the Nobel Prize in physics, and became a member of the Academy in 1942, two years after he became a naturalized American citizen.[3]
The statue and bench are at one side of a circular dais, 28 feet (8.5 m) in diameter, made from emerald-pearl granite from Larvik, Norway. Embedded in the dais are more than 2,700 metal studs representing the location of astronomical objects, including the sun, moon, planets, 4 asteroids, 5 galaxies, 10 quasars, and many stars at noon on April 22, 1979, when the memorial was dedicated. The studs are different sizes to denote the apparent magnitude of the relevant object, and different studs denote binary stars, spectroscopic binaries, pulsars, globular clusters, open clusters, and quasars. The celestial objects were accurately positioned by astronomers at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Familiar constellations are marked on the map for easy identification.[1]
To a visitor standing at the center of the dais, Einstein appears to be making direct eye contact, and any spoken words are notably amplified.
Engraved as though written on the papers held in the statue's left hand are three equations, summarizing three of Einstein's most important scientific advances:
���−12����=���� (the general theory of relativity)
Along the back of the bench, behind the statue, three famous quotations from the scientist are inscribed. They were selected to reflect Einstein's sense of wonder, scientific integrity, and concern for social justice.[1] They are :
"As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail."
"Joy and amazement at the beauty and grandeur of this world of which man can just form a faint notion ..."
"The right to search for truth implies also a duty; one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true."
In July 2012, the sculpture was yarn bombed by the Polish-born artist Olek, who enclosed the entire statue in a colorful crocheted wrap of pinks, purples, and teal.[6]
Argomento precedente
Primo 
As most readers here know, the belief held by some churches that the pope is the Anti-Christ is not new. And as my colleague Tim O'Brien, S.J., 
