Benjamin Franklin National Memorial

The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial is located in the rotunda of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and a large seated statue of Benjamin Franklin. The 6 -meter-high monument, which was created from 1906 to 1911 by James Earle Fraser, honors the writer, inventor and American statesman. The statue weighs 27 tons and sits on a 83 -ton pedestal of white marble Seravezza. The statue is the central part of the Memorial Hall. The Memorial Hall was designed by John T. Windrim modeled after the Pantheon and inaugurated in 1938.

The Congress determined the monument on 25 October 1973 a National Memorial (Public Law 92-551 ). Unlike most National Memorial, the statue is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The monument is a connected area of ​​the National Park Service and is assigned to the Independence National Historical Park under an agreement of 6 November 1973. Under the terms of the Agreement, owns and maintains the publicly accessible Memorial Institute and the National Park Service include the monument in official publications and supports institutions in all endeavors in the interests of the monument.

The Public Law 109-153 December 30, 2005 allowed the Secretary of the Interior up to ten million U.S. dollars in installments for the rehabilitation of the monument and the development of associated exhibitions to provide. This grant was made ​​in honor of Franklin's 300th birthday on 17 January 2006.

The monument was a scene in the film The legacy of the Knights Templar.