Coordinates: 38°52′35″N 77°04′23″W / 38.8764°N 77.073°W / 38.8764; -77.073 The Arlington Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, near the center of the Cemetery, is the home of the Tomb of the Unknowns where Unknown American Servicemembers from World War I, World War II, and Korea are interred. This site has also hosted the state funerals of many famous Americans, such as General of the Armies John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, the Unknown Soldiers, and five victims of the September 11 attacks, as well as annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Every American President of the 20th and 21st centuries has presided over holiday gatherings at this site.
Judge Ivory Kimball worked during several sessions of Congress as the department head of the Grand Army of the Republic in the District to get a bill through Congress to build the Amphitheatre. The bill finally went through in President William Howard Taft's administration, when Congress authorized its construction March 4, 1913. Judge Kimball participated in the ground-breaking ceremony, March 1, 1915, but did not live to see his dream completed. President Woodrow Wilson placed its cornerstone Oct. 15, 1915.
A colonnade of arched openings with attached Doric columns on the piers completely encloses the amphitheater. The architect was Thomas Hastings of the New York-based firm of Carrère and Hastings. The Amphitheater was dedicated on May 15, 1920.
The white marble is from the Danby quarries of Vermont.
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The façade of the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater
Famous quotes containing the words arlington and/or memorial:
“And we who delve in beauty’s lore
Know all that we have known before
Of what inexorable cause
Makes Time so vicious in his reaping.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)