mETRO SCENE – Restoring the Washington Monument; repairing a D.C. landmark

March 19, 2013
Roshan Ghimire
Photojournalist
Metro Events

Photos: Roshan Ghimire

Around the Washington Memorial monument, one of D.C.’s most iconic landmarks, slowly rising “plaster cast” is meticulously placed along the walls to repair the stonework damaged by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. The quake rattled the D.C. metro area in August 2011.

The Washington Monument has been closed to the public since August 23, 2011. Soon after the closing, workers began building scaffolding around the 555-foot-tall structure; it will cost the National Park Service approximately 15 million dollars for repairs. The scaffolding around the entire structure will undergo sealing of the cracks, re-pointing of the mortar and shoring up of weak spots.

Officials have said it will take four-to-five months to build the scaffolding alone, and another five-to-six months to fully repair the D.C. landmark.

Contributors: Wendy Thompson