Out Back

I don't think many visitors to the Lincoln Memorial walk all the way around the building. You may think there is nothing to see from back there, but you'd be wrong. The most obvious item is the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which leads across the Potomac River to Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia. That's General Robert E. Lee's house at the top of the hill on the other side. His family used to own all the property that became Arlington Cemetary. You can even see a few rows of gravestones in this shot.

On the DC side of the bridge, there are two large gilded statues by Leo Friedlander. This one is called Sacrifice.

And this one is called Valor .

Going off in a slightly different direction, and not directly behind the Lincoln Memorial is another road, this one flanked by two more statues.  I don't know what road it is, but that's not important. The two statues, however, are important. Collectively they are called The Arts Of Peace By James Earle Fraser. I believe this one is called Music And Harvest.

And this one, on the other side of the road, is called Aspiration And Literature. I didn't realize when I was actually in DC and looking at these four statues that they weren't all by the same artist. I guess that's what I get for not doing my homework ahead of time.  I've got lots more pictures of these statues coming up later, since I went down and actually got close to them.  I'm just sharing these now since they were shot from the Lincoln Memorial.  See, it does pay to wander around sometimes.