Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 4.9 The Mall of Washington on the axis line
1 The Congress, 2 Washington Monument, 3 Lincoln Memorial, 4 The White House, 5 National
Mall, 6 Supreme Court, 7 Library of Congress, 8 Constitution Ave, 9 Constitution Gardens, 10 The
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 11 Pennsylvania Ave, 12 Smithsonian Institution, 13 National
Museum of African Art, 14 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 15 National Air & Space
Museum, 16 National Gallery of Art East Building, 17 National Gallery of Art, 18 National
Museum of Natural History, 19 National Museum of American History, 20 Jefferson Memorial, 21
Independence Ave
1968 when he went to Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike for equal pay for
equal work, his “dream” yet realized by a long way.
Symbolically the construction of the Lincoln Memorial at the starting point of
the central axis of the capital is a further development of the underlying theme
prescribed by L'Enfant in his plan, that is, the idea of human rights. However, this
ideal has never been fulfi lled. Karl Marx once commented the revolution led by
Lincoln “an earnest of a new epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham
Lincoln to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an
enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world”. 10 It is nevertheless an
undeniable fact that the “new epoch to come” remains an age the American people
have to strive for (Fig. 4.9 ).
4.3.2.3
A Problem Provoking Further Thinking
In a warm and sunny morning in the spring of 1980, I visited the Lincoln Memorial
for the fi rst time. It impressed me so deeply both upon my feeling and my mind
that the memories never faded away. Later, I visited the United States three times
and every time I paid my respects to the Lincoln Memorial to recapture the feeling
10 Ibid., p. 21.
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