President Dwight D. Eisenhower's memorial was dedicated under a light rain, in front of a small live audience on September 17. It's the latest memorial to a president in the District, and the first since 1997 when Franklin Roosevelt's memorial was dedicated next to the Tidal Basin.

Noted architect Frank Gehry designed the memorial park and a number of sculptors created the two main constituent pieces:

Statuary: Three depiction of Eisenhower; 1) as a child, 2) as a civilian leader (President), and 3) as a military leader (General). Perhaps the most convoluted and controversial part of the memorial's development regarded how Eisenhower himself would be depicted. We ended up getting three depictions.
Tapestry: Looming over the park is a massive sculpture the memorial foundation describes as a tapestry. It's a metal screed over 400 feet long and 60 feet tall. The panels form an abstract depiction of France's Normandy coastline. Representative of nature's peaceful beauty after war time, it is intended to paint Eisenhower as a bringer of peace.

I'm looking forward to creating my own interpretation of this seeming straightforward and vast memorial. Location, layout, materials, historical context, and numerous other factors will all contribute to the narrative. This will be a great project to fold into new downtown tours debuting, well, whenever I'm able to comfortably tour in-person again. For now, enjoy the photos.

The full set of 15+ photos is available on our Patreon page!