10 Washington DC Best Monuments

Since its founding in the late 18th century, Washington DC has become a historical and cultural landmark in the United States. On the banks of the Potomac River and named after George Washington, one of the founding fathers, it began to stand out as the seat of central power, but also for its architectural beauty and the beauty of its monuments.

Easily accessible from New York, Boston or practically from any city on the East Coast, there are many things to see in Washington such as the George Washington Obelisk, the Lincoln Memorial or other more recent ones such as the memorial tribute to Martin Luther King, one of the contemporary symbols of African-American culture. Below I tell you more about the best monuments in Washington DC.

Built on the west end of the National Mall, or National Mall, it is the symbol of the city that pays homage to the man who gave it its name. George Washington was the first president of the United States and one of the main heroes in the country's independence. The Obelisk that commemorates him took forty years to build, but with a height of 169 meters and 14 centimeters, it became the tallest building in the world until Paris inaugurated the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

Built with granite, steel and marble, its design was discussed and planned in detail to show the historical stature of the honoree. The Obelisk shape was chosen because it reflects sobriety and elegance, height and neatness, but also because it is a characteristic figure of Freemasonry and Washington was a Freemason. The reflecting pool that is aligned with the monument doubles its magnitude, and at night offers an unmissable perspective.

Access to the Washington Monument as well as the walk on the National Mall is free to enter, but tickets tend to sell out quickly and in high season you can reserve your spot in advance on the National Park Service Ticket website. Weather permitting, the Obelisk Terrace offers some of the most attractive panoramic views of Washington DC.

The memorial was unveiled in 1982 and consists of three parts. The Vietnam War Women's Memorial honors women who served in Asia, most of them serving as nurses. The Three Soldiers Statue is a symbol of the plurality of veterans and reflects three young combatants, one Hispanic, one African-American and one Caucasian, carrying their rifles and dressed in the characteristic summer uniform used in Vietnam. And the Wall is a simple but powerful tribute that has carved in granite the names of the more than 58,000 soldiers who died or disappeared during the war.

The Vietnam War is one of the greatest wounds in American history and also the symbol of an era in which Washington DC became the center of protests to end a conflict that spanned nearly twenty years.

This monument, which can be accessed free of charge but it is advisable to visit it with the assistance of a guide, is striking for its size and simplicity, two characteristics that invite visitors to reflect on what was one of the great tragedies of the twentieth century for the United States.

Inaugurated in 2011, it is one of the newest monuments on the National Mall, but also one of the most visited for paying tribute to a landmark of the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960s.

Martin Luther King Jr. became a symbol of African-Americans very close to the Lincoln Memorial, meters from where his figure is currently located, when in 1963 he delivered his famous "I have a Dream" speech, the text of which is engraved on the rock of the stone that serves as a tribute to him.

This monument is the first to honor a man of color in Washington DC and offers the visitor a winding tour through the most representative phrases of Martin Luther King Jr., which are based on love, justice, democracy and hope, the four fundamental principles that the activist defended.

Access to the monument is free and to learn more about the character and his struggle you can also visit the Museum of African American History and Culture.

Located at the opposite end from the Lincoln Memorial, and separated from it by the reflecting pool, is the tribute to American veterans of World War II. It is a national memorial that was completed in 2004 and was rushed through Congress so that all survivors of the war could have a living recognition.

This war memorial is one of the largest accessible on the National Mall and honors not only the veterans who fought on the front lines but all those who were part of the conflict, including those who served from the nation's armaments factories. That is why the design contemplates 56 pillars with oak and wheat wreaths at the top, symbolizing industrial strength and agricultural production.

The park-like shape of the monument creates a wraparound perspective between the columns, and at night the illuminated fountain offers a full panoramic view of the Lincoln Memorial on one side and the Washington Obelisk on the other. With free admission, it is a must-see on your visit to the U.S. capital.

The Lincoln Memorial is, after George Washington's Obelisk, the most famous memorial in Washington DC, and also one of the most beautiful. Located at the horizontal end of the National Mall, with its back to the Potomac River, it is an imposing building flanked by 36 Doric columns, each representing the 36 states recognized at the time of Lincoln's death.

Inside, the building includes a seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and, above the figure, fragments of his speeches carved in stone. The memorial not only pays tribute to one of the most representative presidents in the history of the United States but has also become the scene of major mass events, such as the 1963 demonstration of Martin Luther King Jr. in his fight for Civil Rights for African Americans or the protests against the Vietnam War in the sixties and seventies.

Access to the memorial is free and open daily from 8 a.m. to midnight. From the steps of the building you can see the Washington Obelisk and its image captured in the reflecting pool.

Without the magnificence of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant was an outstanding president of the United States who fought corruption and the Ku Klux Klan, but his most significant contribution was during the Civil War, as Commander General of the Union Army. For his military activity he washonored with the memorial located in front of the Capitol, in a figure that shows Grant on a horse, exalting his virtues as a leader and rider.

The monument, built in height, offers an open view of the Washington Obelisk and is the most important of the American Civil War memorials built in Washington.

Being an open memorial you can visit it for free, but you can also opt for a tour with a guide who will tell you the history of this monument and the others dedicated to the heroes of the Civil War.

This memorial is very close to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in front of the National Academy of Sciences. It was built in 1979, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's birth.

The monument is made of emerald-colored granite and is surprising for its large size and for the annotations on the papers that the sculpture holds in its hands. In them you can see some of the scientific advances that caused Einstein's research, such as the theory of relativity, the equivalence of energy and matter and the photoelectric effect, work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

It is also a free access monument and since it has no separation, it is possible to take pictures from very close to the sculpture.

It is one of the most beautiful memorials in Washington DC, but being on the side of the National Mall, outside the main circuit, it can often go unnoticed by visitors or when seen from afar it can be confused with a government building. The truth is that inside the neoclassical building is the sculpture of Thomas Jefferson, who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, third president of the country and one of the promoters of the Declaration of Independence.

The view of the monument from the National Mall is very interesting, especially when night falls and the lights of the memorial also illuminate the Tidal Basin, the artificial inlet located along the Potomac River.

It is free of charge and, although it has been considered by popular culture as a monument with low attendance due to its location, it is another of the sites that Washington DC has to offer.

Located in close proximity to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, it not only honors the last U.S. president to serve more than two consecutive terms in office, but also bears witness to an entire era. The massive monument traces twelve years of the country's history and honors Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his wheelchair as well as his wife and all American workers who had to go through the Great Depression.

The most recommended part of the monument is the artificial waterfall that is divided into four parts, representing each of his four terms in office, and whose waters become untamed as the tour progresses, in clear demonstration of the upward difficulty that Roosevelt had to go through during his administration, which began with the Economic Crash of 1929 and ended with World War II.

It is also a free access monument and I recommend that you take advantage of the adjacent circuit to also visit the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, in addition to observing the National Mall through the Tidal Basin.

This monument represents the triumph at the Battle of Iwo Jima against the Japanese army during World War II, but it is also a tribute to all the fallen of the U.S. Marine Corps since they entered service in 1775. The sculpture is also a faithful copy of Joe Rosenthal's photo of the soldiers raising the American flag: an image that became famous aroundthe world.

The Iwo Jima Memorial is across the Potomac River from the National Mall, but geographically it is not in Washington but in Virginia, and is located at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

Access to this monument is free and I recommend you also visit the cemetery, which is where veterans of all wars since American Independence are buried. In this cemetery is also the tomb of John F. Kennedy and the tomb of the unknown soldier, which pays tribute to all those soldiers who could not be recognized or were missing in battle and has a permanent custody.

Located next to the Lincoln Memorial, it is one of the most striking monuments on the National Mall, because it is in the shape of a triangle with 19 steel statues representing a patrol squadron on a winding terrain, very similar to that of Korea.

The statues are flanked by a granite wall that is carved with the legend "Freedom is not free" and details the number of U.S. and United Nations casualtiesin the conflict.
and the United Nations in the conflict.

The memorial is free to access and offers an expansive view of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which is immediately across the street on the other side of the reflecting pool. I recommend you visit this memorial and then continue on to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the World War II Veterans Memorial.

While not monuments, your visit to Washington DC is not complete until you visit these landmark buildings of the branches of the federal government. The White House is located next to the Washington Obelisk and is the official residence of the President of the United States. It can be visited free of charge, although reservations must be made in advance and it is not always open to the public.

The Capitol, located at the opposite end of the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial, is the building in which the U.S. Congress serves. It is known for its central dome and the two wings on the sides that correspond to the Senate and the House of Representatives. It can be visited free of charge and on the upper floors there are galleries for visitors to observe the sessions.

The Temple of Justice, as the building where the Supreme Court of the United States is located, is known, is located behind the Capitol and is the seat of the Judicial Power of the country. It is a lavish construction that was completed in 1935 and has a Romanesque style, which resembles the Pantheon. Its interiors are built in marble from different states and has a spiral staircase leading to the top of the building. The most recommendable thing to see is the tribunal, which has four pink marble columns that were imported from Italy.

The visit is free but it is necessary to check the schedule as the building is closed to the public during the judges' conference days.