Benjamin Franklin National Memorial

The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, located in the rotunda of The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, features a colossal statue of seated Benjamin Franklin. The 20-foot (6.1 m)-tall memorial, sculpted by James Earle Fraser between 1906 and 1911, honors the writer, inventor and American statesman. With a weight of 30 short tons (27 t), the statue stands on a 92-short-ton (83 t) pedestal of white Seravezza marble. The statue is the focal piece of the memorial hall, designed by John T. Windrim after the Pantheon, dedicated in 1938. Congress designated the national memorial on October 25, 1972 (Public Law 92-551). Unlike most national memorials, the statue is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The...