Washington: The six-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln succumbed to the summer heat in Washington, DC, and underwent a dramatic and unexpected transformation.
The statue, which has been in place since February at Garrison Elementary School in northwest Washington, began melting over the weekend when temperatures soared to 100 degrees (about 37.7 degrees Celsius).
The intense heat caused the statue to melt, first causing the head to melt and disintegrate, then removing the legs from the body and removing one leg into an unrecognizable piece. Even the chair holding the statue was not spared, sinking to the ground as the heat waves continued.
CulturalDC, the nonprofit organization that commissioned the sculpture by Richmond artist Sandy Williams IV, commented on the incident. “Our staff intentionally removed Lincoln’s head so it wouldn’t fall and break,” he said. He also revealed that the sculpture was designed to change over time like a candle, but the extreme heat made the process go faster than expected.
Despite the damage, Culture DC plans to renovate the school in September as part of the “40 ACRES: Camp Barker” commemoration of the Civil War era and its aftermath. The wax used in the sculpture has a melting point of 140 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit), at which temperature it starts to melt or harden.
The statue, which weighs about 3,000 pounds, should be placed under a tall tree for shade during the summer. However, three consecutive days of heat waves in the mid-90s proved to be too much for the 16th American president to show.
A photo of the melting president with his head thrown off quickly went viral, sparking comments and memes online. Some saw it as a symbol of heat-related pain, while others took a more humorous or scandalous view.
When Washington, D.C. struggling with punishing summer heat, a melting wax statue of Abraham Lincoln serves as an unexpected reminder of the challenges posed by extreme weather.
