Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: When was the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. built?
The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is often seen as a prime example of phallic architecture and American masculinity. The towering monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, it is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing according to the National Park Service. Construction of the monument began in 1848, was halted from 1854 to 1877, and was completed in 1884. In a "Journal" review, dated 17 October 1911, Arnold Bennett said of the monument, "Saw Washington monument. Phallic. Appalling. A national catastrophe – only equalled by the Albert Memorial. Tiny doll-like people waiting to go into it." Dan Burstein says of it, "Speaking of sex symbols, there is no more phallic symbol in existence than the Washington Monument, and the Capitol dome can be viewed as breastlike." James Webb used a metaphor to praise the "uplift[ing]" power of the Washington Monument as a white phallus, "piercing the air like a bayonet". In the futuristic film "Hardwired", set in the United States where everything noteworthy is commercialized, the Washington Monument is used as a giant Trojan condoms billboard.
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational foundation that was created with the funds from British scientist James Smithson in 1846. The institution is composed of 19 museums and one zoo in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian's locations had a combined total of 30 million visits in 2013. The most visited museum is the National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall. Other Smithsonian Institution museums and galleries on the mall are the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of African Art, the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Sackler and Freer galleries, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Arts and Industries Building, the S. Dillon Ripley Center, and the Smithsonian Institution Building (also known as "The Castle"), which serves as the institution's headquarters. The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are housed in the Old Patent Office Building near Washington's Chinatown. The Renwick Gallery, which is located in a separate building near the White House, is officially part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Other Smithsonian museums and galleries include the Anacostia Community Museum in Southeast Washington, the National Postal Museum near Union Station, and the National Zoo in Woodley Park.
The monuments of the Gettysburg Battlefield commemorate the July 1 to 3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. Most are located within Gettysburg National Military Park; others are on private land at battle sites in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Together, they represent "one of the largest collections of outdoor sculpture in the world."
The capitol building is the centerpiece of a plot which also includes a Vietnam War memorial, Utah Law Enforcement Memorial, and a monument dedicated to the Mormon Battalion. The renovations added a new plaza, a reflecting pool, and two office buildings, as well as underground parking. The grounds feature plants, shrubs, and trees native to Utah, as well as good views of Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Valley and the Wasatch Front.
More than 250 million people have visited the tower since it was completed in 1889. In 2015, there were 6.91 million visitors. The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world. An average of 25,000 people ascend the tower every day which can result in long queues.
The Four Corners Monument is the only point in the United States where four states meet: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona meet at right angles. The United States first acquired the area now called Four Corners from Mexico after the Mexican–American War in 1848. In 1863 Congress created Arizona Territory from the western part of New Mexico Territory. The boundary was defined as a line running due south from the southwest corner of Colorado Territory, which had been created in 1861. By defining one boundary as starting at the corner of another Congress ensured the eventual creation of four states meeting at a point, regardless of the inevitable errors of boundary surveying. The monument is centered at .
The Willis Tower, built as and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-story, skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At completion in 1973, it surpassed the World Trade Center in New York to become the tallest building in the world, a title it held for nearly 25 years; it remained the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere until the completion of a new building at the rebuilt World Trade Center site in 2014. The building is considered a seminal achievement for architect Fazlur Rahman Khan. The Willis Tower is currently the second-tallest building in the United States and the Western hemisphere – and the 16th-tallest in the world. More than one million people visit its observation deck each year, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as a term of its lease.
The entire monument is made of Pentelic marble, from Mt. Pentelikon, 18.2 km northeast of the arch. Pentelic marble was used for the Parthenon and many other notable structures in Athens, although its quality can vary significantly. The marble used for the arch is of a lower grade that had more inclusions than that used in the best Athenian buildings. The arch was constructed without cement or mortar from solid marble, using clamps to connect the cut stones. It is 18m high, 13.5m wide, and 2.3m in depth. Its design is fully symmetrical from front to back and side to side.
The Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral was built in 1903 filling a site previously occupied by the Tothill Fields Prison.
By early 1864, the military cemeteries of Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Virginia, were rapidly filling with war dead. Quartermaster General of the United States Army Montgomery C. Meigs proposed using of the Arlington estate as a cemetery. United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on June 15, 1864, creating Arlington National Cemetery. Meigs believed that since Lee had committed treason in deciding to fight against the Union, denying Lee use of the mansion after the war was a rough form of justice. Meigs decided that a large number of burials should occur close to Arlington House to render it unlivable. Officers were to be buried next to the main flower garden south of the house, and the first burial occurred here on May 17. Meigs ordered that additional burials commence immediately on the grounds of Arlington House in mid-June. When Union officers bivouacked in the mansion complained and had the burials temporarily stopped, Meigs countermanded their orders and had another 44 dead officers buried along the southern and eastern sides of the main flower garden within a month.
The design, by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is considered one of the finest reproductions of the Art Deco style. It was inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, which is NBC's global headquarters. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone piers and recessed tinted glass with granite spandrels. The building takes additional cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower with the use of flying buttresses. A broadcast tower and spire tops the skyscraper. WMAQ and WSNS have STL and satellite facilities on the roof; the STLs link to WMAQ and WSNS's transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower. WMAQ radio/WSCR studios and STL were located in the building until 2006 when they relocated to Two Prudential Plaza.
The Manhattan Building is a 16-story building at 431 South Dearborn Street in Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney and constructed from 1889 to 1891. It is the oldest surviving skyscraper in the world to use a purely skeletal supporting structure. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1976, and designated a Chicago Landmark on July 7, 1978.
The Maryland State House is located in Annapolis, Maryland and is the oldest U.S. state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772. It houses the Maryland General Assembly, plus the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The capitol has the distinction of being topped by the largest wooden dome in the United States constructed without nails. The current building, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, is the third statehouse on its site. The building is administered by the State House Trust, established in 1969.
By the end of summer 1914 the basement, second floor, and exterior walls were nearing completion. The columns were being installed, and work progressed on the dome, including covering it in Utah copper. The capitol commission urged the work forward, hoping the eleventh session of the Legislature would be able to meet in the building the following year. But, as 1914 ended, work had not progressed enough and when the legislature met the next year, it did so in the Salt Lake City and County Building, until February 11, 1915, when the session was moved into the new capitol. Even though the legislature was meeting in the capitol, it took more than a year to finish the remainder of the building sufficiently for the executive and judicial officers to occupy the building. After work was finished the capitol was publicly dedicated on October 9, 1916. The original construction cost was $2,739,538.00 (equivalent to $ in ) and replacement cost is estimated at $310,000,000 (equivalent to $ in ). The capitol was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is included in the Capitol Hill Historic District, a historic district also listed on the National Register.
The building was built for Wachovia bank to replace the nearby Wachovia Building (which was renamed Winston Tower) as the corporation's world headquarters. Wachovia Center, as the tower was originally named, surpassed Winston Tower as Winston-Salem's tallest building. The building was erected during a lull in skyscraper construction in the United States and was the tallest building completed in the entire country during the years of 1995 and 1996. The building remained Wachovia's corporate headquarters from its completion date in 1995 to 2001, when Wachovia merged with First Union. Once the merger was finalized, the corporation, which retained the Wachovia name, decided to locate its headquarters at One Wachovia Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wachovia subsequently sold Wachovia Center to American Financial Realty Trust in May 2004 for $39.6 million as part of a $546 million deal which included 150 bank properties. Wachovia bank continued to lease space in the tower, mostly for offices of its wealth management division.
Angkor Wat (; , "Capital Temple") is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest
religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
Washington is one of the wealthiest and most liberally progressive states in the country. The state consistently ranks among the best for life expectancy and low unemployment. Along with Colorado, Washington was one of the first to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis, was among the first thirty-six states to legalize same-sex marriage, doing so in 2012, and was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions on request before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in "Roe v. Wade" loosened federal abortion laws. Similarly, Washington voters approved a 2008 referendum on legalization of physician-assisted suicide, and is currently only one of five states, along with Oregon, California, Colorado and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia to have legalized the practice. The state is also one of eight in the country to have criminalized the sale, possession and transfer of bump stocks, with California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Maryland, and Massachusetts also having banned these devices.
The United States was attacked on September 11, 2001 by al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them in coordinated strikes into both towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and its target was likely a prominent building in Washington, D.C., most probably either the Capitol Building or the White House. Within three hours of the start of the first hijacking and two hours after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center, Rumsfeld raised the defense condition signaling of the United States offensive readiness to DEFCON 3, the highest it had been since the Arab-Israeli war in 1973.
The Peace Candle has undergone several changes and variations over the last 58 years. The current candle was built in 1990, and is expected to last until about 2014, after which time Easton officials expect to build a new one. As of 2009, the central main candle stands , and the base brings it to about . It reaches a height of about above ground level when factoring the monument it rests atop. When the candle is assembled, several by 8-foot by box pieces are placed around the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, a Civil War memorial in Centre Square, the town square of Easton's Downtown neighborhood. Made from marine-grade plywood and galvanized steel, the box pieces are stacked vertically until the structure is assembled, and then bolted together using about 500 bolts inside the Peace Candle. The flame placed atop the candle is about high and illuminated with 31 bulbs. The entire structure weighs between eight and 10 tons. The main candle is surrounded by four, high side candles, and a fountain that surrounds the Peace Candle's base is filled with a ring of Christmas trees.
Constructed from 1887–1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticised by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.
At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, fatigued and disgusted with personal attacks, and to assure a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement ultimately set precedent. The two-term limit to the presidency was formalized with the 1951 adoption of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Washington is often credited with setting the principal of a two-term presidency, but it was Thomas Jefferson who first refused to run for a third term on political grounds.
In 1954, the Washington Square Planning Committee decided that, instead of the original proposed monument to Washington, a monument to all soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary War would be built. The monument, designated the "Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier", was designed by architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh and includes a bronze cast of Houdon's statue of Washington as the monument's centerpiece. The Tomb includes remains which were disinterred, after archeological examination, from within the park from when it was a cemetery. The remains are that of a soldier, but it is uncertain if he was Colonial or British. An unknown number of bodies remain buried beneath the square and the surrounding area; some are still occasionally found during construction and maintenance projects.
Built in 1827, the original tower was the first monument dedicated to George Washington to be completed. The Washington Monument in Baltimore was completed two years later, although it had been started considerably earlier in 1815. The famous Washington Monument in the District of Columbia was not completed until 1885.
The Federal City ("Washington D.C."), during Washington's lifetime, was originally designed for the place of Washington's memorial. Architect Pierre L'Enfant had specifically set apart land space for a monument to Washington, southwest of the Capital and the White House. The city was completed in 1800 and incorporated officially taking on Washington's name. After Washington's death in December 1799, Congress made no appropriations for Washington's marble monument, although it had pledged to do so. For three decades, funding still had not been granted by Congress for Washington's memorial. This created a public outcry and upset many who believed it was time to honor the first President of the United States, and in 1833 the private "Washington National Monument Society" was formed. The "Society" solicited funding from private donors and set out to build the monument, without Congressional funding. In 1845, the "Society" chose Robert Mills's design, an expensive, lavish Egyptian obelisk, 600 feet tall, that would contain thirty 100-foot base columns.
The Washington D.C. Temple (formerly the Washington Temple) is the 18th constructed and 16th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Kensington, Maryland, United States, just north of Washington, D.C., near the Capital Beltway. The temple was dedicated in 1974 after an open house that attracted over 750,000 people, including several international dignitaries. The temple was the first temple built by the church east of the Mississippi River since 1846, when the original Nauvoo Temple was dedicated.