Jun 26, 2024 - Politics & Policy
D.C.'s hottest monument
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D.C.'s hottest attraction is a melting wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln that lost its head in the capital's triple-digit heat wave this week.
- Why it matters: The six-foot-tall statue — designed to draw attention to Civil War-era refugee camps — has become top-tier meme fodder.
CulturalDC, the organization that commissioned the sculpture, said the 3,000-pound wax sculpture "is intended to be burnt like a candle and to change over time."
- The wax used by artist Sandy Williams IV, an art professor at the University of Richmond, typically has a melting point of 140°F.
- "But with this record-level heat, Lincoln has slumped into his chair more than ever anticipated," the organization said.
Between the lines: The sculpture is located on the grounds of an elementary school that had once housed Camp Barker, a "contraband camp" where freed people who had been enslaved gathered during the Civil War.
- Lincoln was believed to have visited the camp multiple times.
