<Tr> <Th> Added to NRHP </Th> <Td> October 15, 1966 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Lincoln Memorial is an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln . It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument . The architect was Henry Bacon; the designer of the primary statue--Abraham Lincoln, 1920--was Daniel Chester French; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers; and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin . Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president . It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has been a symbolic center focused on race relations . </P> <P> The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well - known speeches by Lincoln, "The Gettysburg Address" and his Second Inaugural Address . The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . </P> <P> Like other monuments on the National Mall--including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial--the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group . It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966 . It is open to the public 24 hours a day . In 2007, it was ranked seventh on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects . Since 2010, approximately 6 million people visit the memorial annually . </P>

Why are there states on the lincoln memorial