The foundation of the Lincoln Memorial is a vast structure known as the undercroft, upon which sits the 38,000-ton monument to the nation’s 16th president.
Previously hidden, now the undercroft contains a 15,000-square-foot museum called the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft that will open to the public June 25. WTOP got a preview with Kevin Griess, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks for the National Park Service.
“When you reveal the underneath, it’s the full memorial,” Griess said. “The bottom has been hidden for 100 years. We opened it up to expose the entirety of Lincoln.”
He said revealing the underneath is also to show how much it meant for the workers who put it together, “what it took to build it and what it looks like finished.”
Inside the undercroft, visitors will see special glass windows opening to a cavernous space containing 120 massive concrete pillars, 50 feet tall, anchoring the monument to the ground. They’ll also find interactive exhibitions featuring the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, which freed enslaved people. Visitors will also be able to see rare, original copies of both documents.
Construction of the Lincoln Memorial began in 1914 and was completed in 1922. During that time, steel and concrete laborers did their work, often in the dark, over long periods of time. Some workers began to scrawl graffiti on the pillars, which has been preserved in the undercroft museum. Some of the graffiti includes the names of the workers themselves, and one includes the name of a singer who was popular at the time the memorial was being built.
Griess said the display is not only to further honor Abraham Lincoln, but also to honor the work of those who built the massive structure.
“Those are all the unknowns, the unknown people, the regular workers, the sweat and blood of America that put it together that were not able to be recognized, but now we can see their work,” Griess said.
The undercroft is located directly under the main chamber of the Lincoln Memorial. Admission is free, but timed-entry reservations are required. There is a $1 online reservation fee.
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