Monuments
Pantheon
The Pantheon is one of the best-preserved monuments of ancient Rome. The structure, completed around 126-128 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, features a rotunda with a massive domed ceiling that was the largest of its kind when it was built. The Pantheon is situated on ...read more
Montezuma Castle
Montezuma Castle is an ancient abode structure located in the Verde Valley in central Arizona. Thanks to its colorful name, the five-story, 20-room building sheltered high in a limestone cliff is sometimes thought to be the former home of the Aztec emperor, Montezuma. Scholars ...read more
How We Got National Monuments
In 1872, Yellowstone became the first U.S. national park, and it earned this status the same way new parks still do today: First Congress passed legislation declaring it a national park, and then the president (at the time, Ulysses S. Grant) signed it into law. But by 1906, the ...read more
The ‘Father of Modern Gynecology’ Performed Shocking Experiments on Enslaved Women
Few medical doctors have been as lauded—and loathed—as James Marion Sims. Credited as the “father of modern gynecology,” Sims developed pioneering tools and surgical techniques related to women’s reproductive health. In 1876, he was named president of the American Medical ...read more
The Hunt for Forgotten World War I Monuments
After the guns fell silent over the trenches of Europe in 1918 and the doughboys returned from “over there,” Americans in big cities and small towns began the effort to commemorate those who served and died in World War I. Throughout the 1920s, Americans raised money and erected ...read more
5 Things You Might Not Know About the Washington Monument
1. Plans for the monument began even before Washington was elected president. In 1783, the Continental Congress voted to erect a statue of George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American army during the Revolutionary War, in the nation’s yet-to-be constructed permanent ...read more
6 Things You May Not Know About the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
1. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built without government funds. Jan C. Scruggs, a wounded Vietnam War vet, studied what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return to the United States. Within a few years, he began calling for a memorial to help with the ...read more
FDR Memorial Opens in New York
On Wednesday, almost 40 years after it was first proposed, a new memorial honoring Franklin D. Roosevelt opened in New York City. Perched on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, Four Freedoms Park takes its name from the theme of the president’s 1941 State of the Union address, ...read more