Thomas Jefferson, Bronze sculpture in Washington, United States
The Thomas Jefferson statue is a bronze figure inside the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., depicting the third president of the United States in a standing pose. It sits beneath a large open dome of white marble that defines the building from the outside.
The sculpture was created by Rudulph Evans and unveiled in 1947, replacing an earlier plaster model that had stood since the memorial building opened in 1943. The building itself was completed during World War II, with its construction spanning the final years of the conflict.
The marble walls surrounding the statue are engraved with passages from Jefferson's own writings on freedom and equality. Visitors standing in the rotunda can read these words and connect them directly to the figure at the center.
The memorial sits on the southern edge of the Tidal Basin and is reachable on foot from the National Mall, though the walk is longer than it looks on a map. Rangers from the National Park Service are on site daily and can answer questions about the statue and the building.
When the memorial opened in 1943, the statue on display was made of plaster, not bronze, because wartime metal restrictions made casting impossible at the time. The permanent bronze figure was only put in place after the war ended, in 1947.
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