14 DAY TRIAL // As it turns out, the Washington Monument in the US is not quite as tall as people think it to be. On the contrary, it is considerably shorter than it was said to be in 1888, when it was finally completed, finishing touches and all.
Mind you, this does not mean that the iconic monument mysteriously shrunk as the years went by. It just means that, what with changes in the landscape around it, the Washington Monument is now a wee less imposing than it used to be.
So, how tall is this monument anyways?
Decades ago, when it made its public debut, the Washington Monument in Washington DC, US, built to honor the first American president, George Washington, was announced to measure a jaw-dropping 555 feet and 5 1/8 inches (about 169.2 meters) in height.
Fast forward a few decades, and by the looks of it, this figure is no longer accurate. Long story short, word has it that, having taken the time to once again measure it, surveyors found the monument to stand merely 554 feet and 7 11/32 inches (roughly 169 meters) tall.
This might not be the kind of piece of news to keep people up all night, tossing and turning in their beds, but then again, it can't simply be dismissed or ignored either. Not when the height of the Washington Monument is written down on a heck lot of brochures.
What's interesting is that, at least for now, the US National Park Service is not even considering printing new brochures to reflect the monument's new height. Instead, the National Park Service plans to continue using the historic numbers.
No, the Washington Monument did not shrink
Admittedly, lightning strikes and other phenomena have eaten away at this iconic monument ever so slightly. However, surveyors say that Mother Nature is not the one to blame for the fact that the Washington Monument is now somewhat smaller than it was said to be when completed.
They further detail that the most likely explanation for the monument's new height boils down to the fact that, over the years, the landscape around it has somewhat changed. “The building didn’t change height because of anything. It is just where you start [measuring] from,” said specialist Dru Smith, as cited by The Washington Times.
Among the changes believed to have altered the monument's height are a new plaza built around it and four brass markers that likely stood at ground level when the Washington Monument was first measured and that presently sit approximately 9 inches (22 centimeters) below ground.
