"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
- President John F. Kennedy, speaking to a gathering of Nobel Prize Winners in 1962

As you could probably guess from all the pictures here, the Jefferson Memorial was one of my favorite stops in DC. Part of the reason was because of Jefferson himself since my 8th grade American History teacher was absolutely in love with him! (She's also the reason I became a Tudor history nut, but that's another story!)

We went out to the Jefferson Memorial after a long day of playing tourist, so it was a welcome rest stop. The first thing we did was walk around the Tidal Basin.

We then walked around to the Memorial itself. We had to fight our way through several high school groups, but they thinned out after a while. It was a beautiful place to relax and had several great photo opportunities.

The statue stands 19 feet tall and is hollow bronze on a 6 feet high pedestal of black Minnesota granite. In it, sculptor Rudulph Evans showed Jefferson in a coat that was a gift from his friend Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a general from Poland. Evans' design was picked from over 100 entries in a nationwide competition.

The Jefferson Memorial was the third if the three great Washington memorials to be completed. It was authorized by an Act of Congress in 1934 and was dedicated in 1943. The design by John Russell Pope was based on the Pantheon in Rome, a favorite of Jefferson's. It's resemblance to Jefferson's home, Monticello, is also noticeable.

There are several other texts enshrined in the memorial, among them, quotes from The Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, his Notes on Virginia and a letter written in 1815. The quote around rotunda interior reads: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

The Tidal Basin area is a man-made lake where visitors can rent paddleboats or gaze at the cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912. We were actually visiting DC as the Cherry Blossom Festival was ending, but the blossoms themselves had already gone. A rather windy storm had blown them right off the trees a few weeks earlier.

Views of the Memorial from across the Tidal Basin.
It's great to have a zoom lens!

From THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
inside the rotunda of the memorial

The lighting was great for this one. The inside floodlights had just come on
as the sun was setting from the right-hand side, evenly illuminating the figure.
Getting people out of my way for the photo was a bit of a challenge though!

The statue's silhouette on a column at sunset.

The monument illuminated by the setting sun.

Sunset over the Tidal Basin.