Trump entweiht das Lincoln Memorial – einen heiligen Ort der Bürger | Das Denkmal weckt Ehrfurcht vor der Unabhängigkeitserklärung. Natürlich ist es eine Bedrohung für einen Präsidenten, der seine egalitäre Vision nicht teilt

>The Lincoln Memorial has always been special. Its siting is perfect, facing the Capitol, across the length of the Mall, as if speaking truth to power. The symmetry of its proportions adds to its moral grandeur. It feels balanced and and open to all, like Lincoln’s vision of democracy.

>That was consciously on the mind of the architect, Henry Bacon. It is not a towering monolith; instead, it invites the visitor in. There are some steps to climb, but not too many; 87 in all, chosen specifically because of the “four score and seven” in the Gettysburg Address, the number separating the year of Lincoln’s speech (1863) from 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence.

>Other elements of the design are precise and perfect. It has 36 fluted Doric columns, symbolizing the states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death. Already, that is a gesture toward peace and reconciliation – it includes the states in rebellion throughout Lincoln’s presidency, now readmitted to the temple. Lincoln would have wanted it that way.

>Above all, it is uncluttered; with no unnecessary ornamentation, and certainly no gilt. Doric is the simplest of the Greek orders; and the most appropriate for a democracy. It stands for civic virtue. The Parthenon, another symbol of democracy, also has Doric columns.

>To get it right, imperfect plans were discarded along the way. An early one, designed by Clark Mills, would have built a tall monument surrounded by equestrian statues, as a statement about conquest, not unlike the garish arch currently being planned behind the Lincoln Memorial. But the Mills plan was happily rejected.

>Still, some objected to Pope’s Greek-influenced design; they would have preferred something more modest, like a log cabin. Or perhaps both?

>Some of that ambivalence was built into another memorial, at Lincoln’s birthplace where an elaborate neoclassical structure surrounds a small wooden log cabin, similar to the one in which Lincoln was born.