National Mall

The Mall’s layout was largely shaped by the McMillan Plan of 1902, which formalized Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s original vision for the capital as a grand civic axis. The Washington Monument — at 555 feet the world’s tallest obelisk when completed in 1884 — anchors the Mall’s midpoint and aligns with the White House to the north and the Jefferson Memorial to the south across the Tidal Basin.

The Mall has hosted defining moments in American public life, from the 1963 March on Washington to presidential inaugurations and national memorials.