the controversial egtian obelisk was a design borwed from antiquity. man: the architect, robert mills, had in minfor a great circular lonnade around the base. that was never realid. buthe sheer abstractness, the size, the power of theonument today speaks voles. narrator: the monument ishe gathering place for thcountry's celebrations.. demonsations... festivals. it's arand avenue and our nation "backyard." nstruction on the wasngton monument ben in 1848, but was left unfinisd cause of financial troubles and political infighti. work resumed aftethe civil war, but the new marble, alough from the same quarry, s slightly different color-- a demarcation still evident today. when the monumt was finally dedicad in 1885, it was the tallest buildin in the world. spectacular views still awt from t lookout station at t top of the monument: the catol building... the whithouse... the jeffson memorial... the lincn memorial. ving west from the whington monument, wencounter one of the cital's newest memorials-- the world r ii memorial. acing a war memorial between thli