Liberty Memorial

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For the suburb of Kansas City, see Liberty, Missouri.
For other memorials to liberty, see Monument of Liberty.
Liberty Memorial
Liberty Memorial

The Liberty Memorial, located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is America's National World War I Memorial, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004. It houses The National World War I Museum. [1] On September 21, 2006, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne declared the memorial a National Historic Landmark. [1]

Contents

[edit] History

The memorial was designed by Harold Van Buren Magonigle who won a design competition. The primary sculptor was Robert Aikten.

It was dedicated on November 11, 1926, by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921, were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral Lord Earl Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France and General John Pershing of the United States. In 1935, bas reliefs by Walker Hancock of Jacques, Beatty, Diaz, Foch and Pershing were unveiled.











The Liberty Memorial is the official World War I monument and museum of the United States. Among other landscaping, its grounds include two large sphinx sculptures, the centerpiece 217-foot (66 m) tower, and the museums around and under the tower. Commensurate with the memorial's congressional designation as the "national" memorial and museum, a new, much larger museum opened in 2006 beneath the main memorial to form a huge museum complex (see below).

[edit] Restoration

The monument underwent an extensive $30 million restoration project beginning in early 2000 and concluding in May 2002. The restoration also created the space beneath the Memorial for the new museum referenced above.

[edit] National World War I Museum

On December 2nd, 2006, the National World War I Museum opened at this site. The cost of the museum totalled approximately $26 million, $20 million of which was raised by city bonds and the rest by Federal and private sources. The displays include a field of 9,000 red poppies, each of which represents 1,000 combat deaths. Visitors enter the museum to a glass floor suspended several feet above this field. [2]

[edit] Photos

Liberty Memorial Photos

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

  1. ^ The National World War One Museum, libertymemorialmuseum.org. Accessed Sept. 2006.
  2. ^ Associated Press National World War I museum opening in Missouri. Accessed Dec 1, 2006


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