What to see at the Lincoln Memorial
The approach
Come from the Reflecting Pool if you have the choice. The building was designed to be seen from the far end of that water, and the architect, Henry Bacon, drew on the Parthenon, which is a claim you can test with your own eyes from about 400 yards out. Arriving from the car park behind it works, but you meet the back of a temple.
The marker on the steps
Set into the steps is an engraved marker reading “I HAVE A DREAM / MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. / THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM / AUGUST 28, 1963”. King delivered the speech from the upper landing during the March on Washington. Twenty-four years earlier, in 1939, Marian Anderson sang an open-air concert on these steps after being denied a segregated venue. Both are Park Service facts about this specific staircase, and standing on the marker is the closest most visitors will come to either. Most people walk over it without seeing it, so look down on the way up. There are two different official step counts, for what it is worth.
The statue
Daniel Chester French designed it; the Piccirilli Brothers carved it from 28 blocks of white Georgia marble. It stands 19 feet tall and weighs 120 tons, or 175 with the pedestal under it. The head alone is 3 feet 7 inches tall and 2 feet 7 inches wide. Those numbers explain why the figure reads as calm rather than huge from the doorway and then does not stop growing as you walk towards it. Stories about the hands spelling letters and a face in the hair are dealt with on the myths page.
The two inscribed walls
The Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address are carved into the marble side walls of the chamber. Read one of them properly rather than photographing both. The Second Inaugural is where the engraver’s corrected letter is, an E cut where an F belonged and filled back in, still faintly visible. Eight Ionic columns stand inside the chamber, 50 feet tall with 24 flutes each; outside there are 36 Doric columns plus two at the entrance, 44 feet tall with 20 flutes. More of that on the building by the numbers.
Down into the undercroft
The last stop, and the only one that needs a ticket. Fifteen thousand square feet of exhibit space around the concrete column grid that holds the memorial up, with interactive displays and a multimedia presentation on how the meaning of the memorial has changed over its first century. Timed entry, free admission, and two ways to get in: the tickets page has both.
Ten minutes on one inscription beats forty minutes of photographs. The chamber is lit at night and open around the clock, so if you have already done the daytime version, the same walls at 11 p.m. are a different experience for no money at all.
Seeing it with a guide, and getting the museum too
The operator’s evening walk covers the Mall memorials on foot and ends by handing over timed undercroft tickets, which makes it one of only two products in our catalogue that include the museum at all.
Related: how long to allow, when to go, and the step-free route in.
Frequently asked questions
What is there to see inside the Lincoln Memorial?
The seated statue, 19 feet tall and 120 tons, and the two side walls carrying the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address, under eight Ionic columns 50 feet tall. Below the chamber, the undercroft museum adds 15,000 square feet of exhibits on a timed ticket.
Where did Martin Luther King Jr. give the “I Have a Dream” speech?
From the upper landing of the Lincoln Memorial steps, during the March on Washington in 1963. A marker set into the steps records it. The same steps carried Marian Anderson’s open-air concert in 1939 — and there are two official counts of those steps.
Can you go inside the Lincoln Memorial?
Yes, free and at any hour, with no ticket; there is an elevator as well as the steps, described on step-free access. Only the undercroft needs a timed ticket.