The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

On May 30, 1922, after eight years of construction, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on the western edge of Washington’s National Mall. Designed by architect Henry Bacon in the form of a Greek Doric temple, the white marble monument honors Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president, who led the nation through the Civil War.

The ceremony drew roughly 50,000 people. Lincoln Memorial Commission president and Chief Justice William Howard Taft presented the finished structure to President Warren G. Harding, who formally accepted it on the government’s behalf. Robert Russa Moton, principal of the Tuskegee Institute, also spoke.

“It is a supreme satisfaction officially to accept on behalf of the Government this superb monument to the savior of the republic.”

Inside sits Daniel Chester French’s seated Lincoln, carved from Georgia marble and standing about 19 feet tall. The exterior’s 36 columns represent the states in the Union at Lincoln’s death. The site has since become a stage for American history, from Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert to the 1963 March on Washington.