![]() The walls are to be made of a hard, polished black granite, with the names to be carved in a simple Trojan letter, 3/4 inch high, allowing for nine inches in length for each name. The walls, contained on one side by the earth are 10 feet below ground at their point of origin, gradually lessening in height, until they finally recede totally into the earth at their ends. The memorial's origin is located approximately at the center of this site it legs each extending 200 feet towards the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. ![]() Thus this memorial is for those who have died, and for us to remember them. The actual area is wide and shallow, allowing for a sense of privacy and the sunlight from the memorial's southern exposure along with the grassy park surrounding and within its wall contribute to the serenity of the area. The black granite walls, each 200 feet long, and 10 feet below ground at their lowest point (gradually ascending towards ground level) effectively act as a sound barrier, yet are of such a height and length so as not to appear threatening or enclosing. For death is in the end a personal and private matter, and the area contained within this memorial is a quiet place meant for personal reflection and private reckoning. Brought to a sharp awareness of such a loss, it is up to each individual to resolve or come to terms with this loss. We, the living are brought to a concrete realization of these deaths. As we turn to leave, we see these walls stretching into the distance, directing us to the Washington Monument to the left and the Lincoln Memorial to the right, thus bringing the Vietnam Memorial into historical context. Thus the war's beginning and end meet the war is "complete", coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle's open side, and contained within the earth itself. The names resume on the left wall, as the wall emerges from the earth, continuing back to the origin, where the date of the last death is carved, at the bottom of this wall. These names continue on this wall, appearing to recede into the earth at the wall's end. It is followed by the names of those who have died in the war, in chronological order. At one intersection of these walls, on the right side, at this wall's top is carved the date of the first death. The memorial is composed not as an unchanging monument, but as a moving composition, to be understood as we move into and out of it the passage itself is gradual, the descent to the origin slow, but it is at the origin that the meaning of this memorial is to fully understood. For this memorial is meant not as a monument to the individual, but rather as a memorial to the men and women who died during this war, as a whole. These names, seemingly infinite in number, convey the sense of overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a whole. Walking into the grassy site contained by the walls of this memorial, we can barely make out the carved names upon the memorial's walls. Approaching the memorial, the ground slopes gently downward, and the low walls emerging on either side, growing out of the earth, extend and converge at a point below and ahead. Lin's One Page Description Walking through this park-like area, the memorial appears as a rift in the earth - a long, polished black stone wall, emerging from and receding into the earth. "The description was critical to understanding the design," she said, "since the memorial worked more on an emotional level than a formal level." This is what she said. Lin has said that it took longer to write this statement than to draw the sketches. ![]() Entry 1026, which was Lin's, included abstract sketches and a one-page description. The 1981 competition was anonymous and presented on poster board back then. She knew that she needed words to explain her abstractions. Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was simple-perhaps too simple. Image courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, digital file from original.
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