Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., honors the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, and was built between 1939 and 1943. Built on the initiative of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the memorial celebrates Jefferson's Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality, which served as a driving force in overcoming the Great Depression. The architect John Russell Pope designed the structure, whose style recalls the Roman Pantheon and the rotunda of the University of Virginia, which Jefferson himself designed. Inside stands a large bronze statue of the president, while the walls are inscribed with notable quotations from his writings and speeches, including excerpts from the Declaration of Independence. The monument sits in West Potomac Park, best known for its Japanese ornamental cherry trees. These trees have a history of their own: in 1938, women protested against their removal to make way for the construction. Despite early criticism of its conservative style, the building is very popular today and is regarded as one of the best-loved architectural landmarks in the United States.