The Liberty Memorial
, located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is called a National Symbol for World War I
and houses the The National World War I Museum
, as designated by the United States Congress in 2004. [1] On September 21, 2006, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne declared the memorial a National Historic Landmark. [2]
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LIBERTY MEMORIAL TICKETS
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History
The memorial in
Penn Valley Park was designed by
Harold Van Buren Magonigle who won a design competition. The primary sculptor was
Robert Aikten. The approaches were designed by
Wight and Wight.
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 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 houses the official
World War I 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).
The Memorial and Monument are managed by a non-profit organization
[3] in cooperation with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
Design
The design of the building is typical of the federal-type buildings of the era and is designed in the classical
Egyptian Revival style of architecture with a
limestone exterior. The foundation was constructed using sawed
granite, and the exterior ground level walls are made of Bedford stone. The main doors at the top of a large set of stairs are made from ornamental bronze, and the walls of the first floor lobby are finished in
Kasota stone, which was quarried in
Kasota, Minnesota. The first floor corridor and the grand stairway are finished in
travertine that was imported from Italy. The floors of the corridors and tread of stairway are made from terrazzo and Kasota marble, and the
balusters and railing are made from Italian travertine and Italian tavernelle clairemarble.
At night, the top of the memorial tower emits steam illuminated by bright orange lights. This effect creates the illusion of a burning
pyre and can be seen for some distance. However, due to budget cuts in the city, the "Eternal Flame" has been shutdown. It will be used during specific holiday weekends such as Memorial Day weekend when the "flame" will function from Friday through Monday.
In 1981, the building underwent a major renovation which updated existing systems to modern code specifications.
The grounds were designed by
George Kessler who had rocketed to fame on the strength of his
City Beautiful design for the Kansas City park and boulevard system.
[4]. The road on the west side of the Memorial is Kessler Road.
The National World War One Museum
America's official museum dedicated to
World War I, as designated by the United States Congress, opened December 2006. The new subterranean facility greatly expands the previous facilities that are still housed on the main deck of the Liberty Memorial. The National World War One Museum tells the story of the war and related global events from their origins before 1914 through the 1918
Armistice and
1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 poppies, each one representing 1,000 war combattant deaths. The museum holds two theaters, exhibitions with period artifacts (including a
tank, uniforms, guns, maps, photographs of major forces) in state-of-the-art interactive displays, a 20,000 sq. ft. research center and library, multi-purpose conference room, and museum store. The last group of museum galleries focuses on the United States' military and civilian involvement in the war and President
Woodrow Wilson's efforts for peace.
[5] [6]
The museum also hosts eminent guest lecturers, authors, and films related to the events of World War I.
Gallery