Reflections on a Nation

The Reflecting Pool runs 2,028 feet east to west across the National Mall, with the Lincoln Memorial at its western end and the Washington Monument's grounds at the other. On the ground the two stand at opposite ends, and this picture gathers them into a single view at sunset.

The Memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922. Its 36 columns stand for the 36 states in the Union when Lincoln died. Marian Anderson sang on its steps on Easter Sunday 1939 before a live crowd of 75,000, and on August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the 'I Have a Dream' speech from the same place at the March on Washington.

The Monument was topped out in December 1884, dedicated in 1885 and opened to the public in 1888. It stands 555 feet tall by the Park Service's measure, and no building in Washington stands taller.

The Memorial's columns glow butter-yellow left of center and the Monument rises pale and tall on the right, both doubled in the Pool, where the orange and violet sky breaks into short strokes of blue, gold and rose. Tree-lined paths run down both sides, with a few small figures and lamps along them.