Jefferson Memorial

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The Jefferson Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C., honouring Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. It sits in West Potomac Park on the shore of the Tidal Basin, a small lake beside the Potomac River, and is built in the neoclassical style.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Washington, D.C., USA
Built: 1943
Height: 39 m
Type: Monument

Quick answers

Where is Jefferson Memorial?

Jefferson Memorial is in Washington, D.C., USA, United States.

When was Jefferson Memorial built?

Jefferson Memorial was built in 1943.

How tall is Jefferson Memorial?

Jefferson Memorial is about 39 m tall.

A Pantheon-inspired rotunda honouring Thomas Jefferson, whose 5.8 m bronze statue looks out over the Tidal Basin's cherry trees.

Architect John Russell Pope drew on the Roman Pantheon and on Jefferson's own rotunda design at the University of Virginia. Work began in 1938 and the memorial opened in 1943, on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth. The National Park Service looks after it, and the American Institute of Architects once ranked it fourth on a list of America's favorite architecture.

How it came to be built

Planners had imagined a Pantheon-like building on this spot as early as 1901. In 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked about a memorial to Jefferson, and a commission chose John Russell Pope as architect. Pope died in 1937, and his partners finished the work. Congress set aside about $3 million. Some people objected to the site and to cutting cherry trees, and the plans were changed so the trees could stay.

What it looks like

The memorial is a round, open building with a shallow dome, ringed by 26 Ionic columns, each about 4.3 metres tall. It is made of white marble from Vermont and is about 50 metres across. Because it stands on filled land, it rests on foundations that reach about 27 metres deep. A bronze statue of Jefferson stands inside; because of World War II shortages, a plaster copy was used at the opening and the bronze arrived in 1947.

Cherry trees and rising water

The Tidal Basin around the memorial is famous for its Japanese cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, and the memorial is a favourite stop during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Today the ground is slowly sinking, and by the 2020s high tides sometimes washed over the seawall, which led to plans to rebuild it.

Fun facts

It was dedicated in 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth.
The memorial lines up exactly south of the White House.
The cornerstone holds 15 volumes of Jefferson's writings.
The first statue inside was a plaster copy, because metal was scarce during World War II.
The pediment sculpture shows the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence.