February 12, 2009, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of US President Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln Memorial was sculpted by Daniel Chester French to honor the 16th President of the United States. This photograph of French was taken in his Stockbridge, Massachusetts, studio and shows the plaster models of the Lincoln memorial. Please enjoy this Then and Now series of the memorial, long a backdrop for presidential inaugurations.

Daniel Chester French – Smithsonian Institution	Lincoln Memorial 2009 – Metal Chris
THEN	NOW

Smithsonian Institution	Smithsonian Institution
1989	1993

Inscribed above the statue in the memorial are these words:

IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

Tags: Lincoln, Smithsonian Institution

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Then and Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.