With this faith
we will be able
to hew out of the
mountain of despair
a stone of hope.
...Martin Luther King
After more than 20 years of design and construction, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened to the public on August 28, 2011, on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington. It was the first National Mall memorial to honor a citizen activist rather than a president or war hero.
The memorial is located along the National Mall's Tidal Basin. The focal point of the memorial is inspired by a line from the renowned 1963 speech (quote above). Two large walls of granite, metaphorical mountains of despair, stand in front of a 30 foot sculpture of Dr. King entitled the "Stone of Hope."
The statue of civil rights movement leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., was carved by sculptor Lei Yixin from Chinese white granite. A piece of the "Mountain of Despair" has been separated to create the "Mountain of Hope" and from it emerges the figure of Dr. King standing, arms crossed, gazing out over the Tidal Basin towards the Jefferson memorial. Best on Black.
I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the memorials at night, after the museums were closed. Most of the time, the lighting was great too. They do an excellent job on the National Mall, National Park Service and at the Smithsonian Museums.
