Showing posts with label monuments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monuments. Show all posts

October 28 - Gateway Arch!

 Posted on October 28, 2021


This is an update of my post published on October 28, 2010:




The most famous structure in St. Louis, Missouri, the Gateway Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. It represents the “gateway to the west,” since St. Louis was a common launching spot for westward-going covered wagons.

It is hard to imagine how anyone can build ANY arch, let alone a smoothly-curving 630-foot tall arch that is hollow inside so people can ride a tram to the top!



But this short video shows the top of the arch being put into place on this date in 1965. 

(This much longer video talks about how the entire arch was built - but watch out for the old-fashioned narration that is so rah-rah about European Americans going West; remember that history isn't simplistic, and it wasn't glorious to push Native peoples out of their ancestral homes!)

The Gateway Arch is the tallest monument in the United States. Made of stainless steel skin covering a sandwich of two carbon steel walls with reinforced concrete in the middle, on the bottom half, and carbon steel and rebar, on the top half, this monument is exactly as wide as it is tall. 

The tram is an egg-shaped “elevator” with five seats per compartment and a flat floor. Because there are two bases (one on the north end, and one on the south end), and each base has a train of eight linked compartments, the tram can transport 80 passengers at a time.


At the top of the arch is an observation deck.


In each leg of the arch there is also a stairway for emergency use. I wouldn't like to be in the top when an emergency occurs—and have to walk down 1,076 steps!















Learn more about arches. 
This modern arch is truly and architectural wonder, but people have been making arches since ancient times.






Here is a webpage about arches. 

This video shows a LOT about how arches work.

Try to build an arch, maybe!


Here's an idea:
Make an arch out of boxes, or pieces of wood, or clay. First, lay the arch out on a board laid flat on the floor. Then raise up the arch, take away the board, and see if your construction holds!

This website carefully details how to build a Roman arch with sugar cubes. 

















Anniversary of the completion of the Alaska Highway




 

Plan ahead:



Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for:

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May 30 - Lincoln Memorial - With Dedication

Posted on May 30, 2020



Today many of us are still Staying At Home due to the global pandemic. But we can still visit the Lincoln Memorial in a virtual way!

On this date in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated.

Did you know that a powerful Speaker of the House gummed up the plans to build the Lincoln Memorial? Here is the story - and it's NOT what I expected, so maybe not what you expect as well!

Here is a short, general video about the Lincoln Memorial - including mention of the dedication. It may not surprise you to learn that the dedication ceremony was segregated by race.



Here are some tips for real-life visiting the Lincoln Memorial - when we can travel again!









Just a reminder: some important things have happened at the Lincoln Memorial - like Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the steps of the memorial - with more than 75,000 people attending in person and millions more listening on radio!!! Anderson had been barred from singing in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall, because she was black, so when she sang "My Country, Tis of Thee..." - she was making a statement!

In 1957, around 25,000 people attended a rally at the memorial - called a Prayer Pilgrimage - to draw attention to the lack of progress in desegregating schools and to push for new civil rights laws.

And of course the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ended at the Lincoln Memorial, and that's where Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. That event included around 200,000 participants and is memorialized with a plaque positioned where King stood.


This wasn't an event, but it was a visit by President and First
Lady Obama (the two figures entering the temple part of the
memorial), with a few photographers and security people in
attendance. I found this photo beautiful and also evocative...
partly because the people are so dwarfed in size by the statue
of Lincoln.


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April 18 - International Day for Monuments and Sites

Posted on April 18, 2020

Normally, on International Day for Monuments and Sites, many people organize events located at monuments and heritage sites to raise awareness of important issues, celebrate the creation of the monument/site, or even to encourage local tourism. 


However, 2020 is not "normal," and people are canceling rather than planning events. During a global pandemic, we don't want to encourage tourism.

But how about visiting monuments and historic sites virtually? Check this website for ideas (you can scroll down to "How to Participate Virtually" - but reading the part about shared heritage and responsibility is excellent, too!).

Of all the monuments and historic sites I have visited, here are some of my favorites:

The Vietnam Memorial, by Maya Lin, Washington, D.C., U.S.



Stonehenge, England, United Kingdom


Tikal, Guatemala


Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean"), Chicago, Illinois, U.S.


Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial, Washington, D.C., U.S. 



I would love to see some more amazing monuments and historic sites - like Petra, in Jordan; Machu Picchu, in Peru; and Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Maybe I will try to virtually visit them today!



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