Park
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
1964 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20004, USA
Thirty-foot granite figure emerging from a carved mountain, cut from stone quarried on the other side of the world.
This guide to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial follows the pale pink granite carved into his likeness back to its source in China's Fujian Province, and to the sculptor memorial organizers picked in 2007, Lei Yixin, best known for monuments to Chairman Mao. You'll hear about the immediate backlash over that choice, and how Lei kept working anyway, studying hundreds of photographs until he judged the likeness right. Listen for why officials said only that particular quarry could supply the shade they wanted.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.