﻿276 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



National Monument to Washington. 



On the opposite page is an accurate view of the monument to 

 Washington, now being erected at Washington city. It stands on 

 the banks of the Potomac river, west of the capitol, and about mid- 

 way between it and the President's house. 



The most prominent and imposing object of the proposed colossal 

 structure will be the obelisk shaft, rising from the centre to the height 

 of six hundred feet, seventy feet square at the base, and forty at the 

 top. Around this shaft, elevated on a terrace, or platform, twenty 

 feet high and three hundred feet square, is to be erected a vast ro- 

 tunda, supported by thirty massive columns, of twelve feet diameter, 

 and forty-five feet high ; enclosing a gallery fifty feet wide, sixty feet 

 high, and five hundred feet in circumference. Above the colonnade 

 will be an entablature twenty feet high, surmounted by a balustrade 

 fifteen feet high, making an elevation of one hundred feet for the ro- 

 tunda or colonnaded building. On the top, over the great gallery, 

 and enclosed by the balustrade, will be a grand terrace around the 

 great shaft, seven hundred feet in circumference, and outside of the 

 balustrade a walk or gallery six feet wide, and seven hundred and 

 fifty in circumference. The entrance and passage to the grand terrace 

 will be by means of a railway, of easy ascent, encircling the great 

 shaft. 



This noble monument will be nearly three times as high as that 

 on Bunker Hill, in Charlestown. Within the rotunda it is designed 

 to place niches for the reception of statues of the signers of the Dec- 

 laration of Independence ; whose memory, as well as that of the il- 

 lustrious Washington, every true-hearted American will cherish with 

 affectionate regard. 



The view from the top of this structure, when completed, will be 

 grand and impressive. Those who have ascended the monument on 

 Bunker Hill may, perhaps, be able to imagine the sublimity of the 

 panorama. I am inclined to think others will not. 



