The Washington Monument is a 555-foot (169 m) tall obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States and the nation's first president. Standing east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial, the monument is made of bluestone gneiss for the foundation and of granite for the construction. The outside facing consists of three different kinds of white marble, as the building process was repeatedly interrupted. The monument stands 554 feet 7+11⁄32 inches (169.046 m) tall, according to U.S. National Geodetic Survey measurements in 2013 and 2014. It is the third tallest monumental column in the world, trailing only the Juche Tower in Pyongyang, and the San Jacinto Monument in Houston, Texas. It was the world's tallest structure between 1884 and 1889, after which it was overtaken by the Eiffel Tower, in Paris.
Construction of the presidential memorial began in 1848. The construction was suspended from 1854 to 1877 due to funding challenges, a struggle for control over the Washington National Monument Society, and the American Civil War. The stone structure was completed in 1884, and the internal ironwork, the knoll, and installation of memorial stones was completed in 1888. The original design was by Robert Mills from South Carolina, but construction omitted his proposed colonnade for lack of funds, and construction proceeded instead with a bare obelisk. The completed monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885, and opened to the public on October 9, 1888. In 2001, a temporary security screening facility was added to the entrance. Following the 2011 Virginia earthquake, the monument was closed for repairs until 2014, and it was closed again from 2016 to 2019.
