<Tr> <Td> Joint Commission at Setting of Cap Stone .----------Chester A. Arthur . W.W. Corcoran, Chairman . M.E. Bell . Edward Clark . John Newton . Act of August 2, 1876 . </Td> <Td> Corner Stone Laid on Bed of Foundation July 4, 1848 . First Stone at Height of 152 feet laid August 7, 1880 . Capstone set December 6, 1884 . </Td> <Td> Chief Engineer and Architect, Thos . Lincoln Casey, Colonel, Corps of Engineers . Assistants: George W. Davis, Captain, 14th Infantry . Bernard R. Green, Civil Engineer . Master Mechanic, P.H. McLaughlin . </Td> <Td> Repaired 1934, National Park Service, Department of the Interior . Laus Deo . </Td> </Tr> <P> Although most printed sources, Harvey (1903), Olszewski (1971), Torres (1984), and the Historic Structure Report (2004), refer to the original 1884 inscriptions, the National Geodetic Survey (2015) refers to both the 1884 and 1934 inscriptions . All sources print them according to their own editorial rules, resulting in excessive capitalization (Harvey, Olszewski, and NGS) and inappropriate line breaks . No printed source uses cursive writing, although pictures of the apex clearly show that it was used for both the 1884 and 1934 inscriptions . </P> <P> A replica displayed on the 490 - foot level uses totally different line breaks than those on the external apex--it also omits the 1934 inscriptions . In October 2007, it was discovered that the display of this replica was positioned so that the Laus Deo (Latin for "praise be to God") inscription could not be seen and Laus Deo was omitted from the placard describing the apex . The National Park Service rectified the omission by creating a new display . </P> <P> The pyramidion, the pointed top 55 feet (17 m) of the monument, was originally designed with an 8.9 - inch (23 cm) tall inscribed aluminum apex which served as a single lightning rod, installed December 6, 1884 . Six months later on June 5, 1885 lightning damaged the marble blocks of the pyramidion, so a net of gold - plated copper rods supporting 200 3 - inch (7.6 cm) gold - plated, platinum - tipped copper points spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m) was installed over the entire pyramidion . The original net included a gold - plated copper band attached to the aluminum apex by four large set screws which supported eight closely spaced vertical points that did not protrude above the apex . In 1934 these eight short points were lengthened to extend them above the apex by 6 inches (15 cm). In 2013 this original system was removed and discarded . It was replaced by only two thick solid aluminum lightning rods protruding above the tip of the apex by about one foot (0.3 m) attached to the east and west sides of the marble capstone just below the apex . </P>

What is the inscription on top of the washington monument