Thomas Jefferson Memorial, USA

In the summer of 2018, CyArk digitally documented the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Obtaining baseline documentation of the monument was crucial to the site’s conservation of the structure as site managers work to better understand the growth of biofilm on the monument’s dome. Working with the National Park Service, CyArk used terrestrial photogrammetry (Nikon D810 and Phase One Medium format camera) and laser scanning (Faro X330) to document the exterior of the structure. While CyArk typically uses drones to capture all aspects of cultural heritage sites, the nation’s capital has restricted airspace. To successfully capture aerial photographs of the monument, CyArk photographed the site from the National Park Service’s law enforcement helicopter. The site has been able to use the data CyArk collected to better preserve the monument and monitor biological and environmental impacts on the structure over time. 

Light filtering through the sixteen columns standing in each of the four openings to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial illuminate a polished bronze statue of the third president of the United States. Inscribed at the base of his raised figure are the years of his birth and death: 1743 to 1826. Thomas Jefferson lived through the founding of the United States as an independent nation and significantly shaped the American democracy that the world knows today. Jefferson died on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, a document widely recognized as one of Jefferson’s most celebrated achievements. Its words located on southwest wall of the memorial read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” On April 13, 1943, Thomas Jefferson’s 200th birthday, thousands of people gathered under overcast skies in the memorial's plaza for its dedication ceremony. Just as the monument and the surrounding landscape have changed since its initial construction, our understanding of the complexities of Thomas Jefferson as a person and president have transformed as well. Today, the National Mall, where the memorial resides, is a place of reflection and activism. It is a space where people come to negotiate and reinterpret the foundations of American democracy that remain integral to Thomas Jefferson’s legacy.