You've Got To See It

Standing at the base of the Washington Monument tonight, looking up The Mall toward the Lincoln Memorial, I changed my mind about the three-year old World War II Memorial.

I was never against the memorial. Of course we need to do something and do something big to memorialize those who fought and won the most important war in the history of mankind. (Go ahead and argue, but Adolph Hitler with nuclear weapons trumps everything. And the first person who compares Iran to Nazi Germany wins my Complete Lack of Perspective Award.) I just never liked either the placement of the memorial or the design.

Boy, was I wrong.

From the Washington Monument, the memorial fits in perfectly with the reflecting pool and view up to the Lincoln Memorial. It looks like it has been there forever, adding to the view rather than overwhelming it.

And up close, walking around the perimeter or down around the central fountain, the design that I had thought grandiose and even a little vulgar seemed almost completely right. I could have walked around it for hours, just soaking it all in. Oh, I've got my quibbles. The almost irresistible tendency in designing public memorials is to include too much, and this one certainly does that.  Once you get past the basic architecture of the thing, there are lots of little sub-ideas included that really don't add much: a wall of stars, some bas relief storytelling, and added bonus water features. The most beautiful of Washington's monuments are demonstrations of the power of stark simplicity; the New Wave of monument design is so all-inclusive I'm afraid it will date that which should be timeless.

I'm also not nuts about the metal wreaths that adorn the state and territory columns. They seem almost fascist to me, a presumably accidental recollection of Mussolini's constant use of laurels to laud himself. But I don't have another idea about what I'd put up on the columns and I suspect they need something, so I won't complain a lot.

All of that said, the sum effect of the World War II Memorial is stunning, particularly at night. Former Senator Bob Dole, FedEx chairman Fred Smith and everyone else who raised the money to build it and oversaw the design and construction process, deserve an enormous amount of credit. They've built something that, I believe, will look as right a hundred years from now as it does today.

Comments

[Pursuit]

Wow, dude this is weird.

I was at the WWII memorial on Monday at around 11a.m. Had the exact same thoughts that you had. The only thing I'd add to your post are the words there that I found most moving:

“We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.”

General George Catlett Marshall

[Squidley]

I saw the memorial (on 9.29) as the sun was getting low in the sky, but before twilight. It was beautiful from the Lincoln Memorial at dusk.

I was concerned that it would detract from the Mall and the views; as you say, it adds to it.