Lincoln Tomb and War Memorials State Historic Site | |
Location | Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois |
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Built | 1868–1874 |
Architect | Larkin Goldsmith Mead |
NRHP reference No. | 66000330 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
Designated NHL | December 19, 1960[2] |
The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.
Constructed of granite, the tomb has a tall, story-and-a-half base in trapezoidal form, surmounted by an obelisk, with a semicircular receiving room entranceway on one end and a semicircular crypt or burial room opposite. On the exterior, four flights of balustraded stairs lead to a level terrace. The balustrade extends around the terrace to form a parapet, and there are several bronze statues, reliefs, and stone carvings located at the base of the obelisk. The obelisk rises 117 feet (36m) high.
A bronze recasting of Gutzon Borglum's head of Lincoln stands on a pedestal in front of the entrance way; Borglum's original marble bust is in the U.S. Capitol. Inside the tomb's ground level entrance is a rotunda with connecting hallways to the burial room. Marble is used throughout the interior, and several well-known, specially cast bronze statues of Lincoln are displayed in the entrance room and hallways. A stained glass window and flags adorn the crypt, which is centered around an inscribed red marble monument .
At the close of the ceremonies and events marking Lincoln's death, his body was placed in a nearby receiving tomb and later in the state tomb. The mausoleum is owned and administered by the State of Illinois as Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. It was designated one of the first National Historic Landmarks in 1960, and thus became one of the first sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, when that designation was created.