Record temperatures in the United States, especially in the Northeast, have melted us all, including Abraham Lincoln.
Triple-digit temperatures melted a 3,000-pound wax figure of former President Lincoln outside a Washington, D.C. elementary school over the weekend. Photos and videos of the figure, showing Lincoln slumped in a chair, circulated on social media afterward, with internet users praising the figure for its ability to capture how they felt during the heatwaves.
Cultural DC, the nonprofit that commissioned the 6-foot-tall statue, said in an update on its website that the wax sculpture by artist Sandy Williams IV “was meant to burn like a candle and change over time, but the extreme heat caused significant damage to the Lincoln statue.”
The group said the wax used in the statue has a freezing point of 140 degrees Celsius (the temperature at which it begins to harden or melt), but “the record-breaking heat caused Lincoln to sink further into his chair than expected.”
“The pressures of 2024 and global warming conditions are putting all of the wax on the back burner,” CulturalDC said.
The group added that Lincoln’s head had been “intentionally removed” to “prevent it from falling and being damaged.”
“I can’t guarantee he’ll be sitting upright over the next few months, but who really will?” the Cultural DC said.
More than 100 million Americans were under heat watches or warnings from the National Weather Service over the weekend, and the Washington, D.C., area saw two consecutive days of record-breaking temperatures, according to the Baltimore-Washington National Weather Service.
Temperatures at Dulles International Airport reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, breaking the previous record of 99 degrees Fahrenheit set in 1988.
video:The Las Vegas Sphere is experiencing a heatwave and people are sweating profusely from sunburn.
Culture DC curators say they have no plans to restore the statue
In a statement to USA Today, CulturalDC curator and executive director Christy Meiselman said the organization “does not intend to restore the installation.”
“After consulting with Garrison Elementary’s principal and the community, we have decided to remove the structure before students return to school on Aug. 26,” Maiselman said. “This timeline is only slightly earlier than the original planned removal date of Sept. 1.”
Meiselman said private collectors and large galleries have also made offers to buy the work, but that “no specific decision has been made about where to sell it next,” adding that “all options are on the table.”
Where is Washington DC’s melting statue of Abraham Lincoln?
The statue was installed outside Garrison Elementary School on the site of Camp Barker, a Civil War-era refugee camp that once housed slaves and freed African Americans.
The statue was commissioned by CulturalDC and supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities through a Public Arts Community Construction Grant, and was scheduled to be installed in February 2024 and remain on display until September 30, 2024, according to the CulturalDC website.
“The installation is a direct response to Washington DC’s history as a Civil War-era contraband camp, a refugee camp that housed formerly enslaved and freed African Americans,” CulturalDC said.
Williams said the first version of the statue was to be installed in September 2023 with 100 wicks, but a group of people set fire to the wicks, causing the statue to melt before it could be unveiled. The incident upset many local residents, and the new statue that is currently on display was commissioned shortly afterwards.
Why is the Lincoln statue in Washington DC made of wax?
The statue, part of Williams’ “40 Acres Archive: Wax,” launched in 2021, is part of “a collection of artworks, events, performances, films and installations that highlight and connect to significant Black history across the nation.”
According to a statement from Williams, the collection aims to “subvert traditional expectations of public monuments and memorials as a means to stimulate community dialogue about change and public memory.”
Williams said the piece is “intended to be temporary” and will undergo changes throughout its installation. Williams added that the sculpture is intended to be interactive and to reflect the ongoing changes in its surroundings. Once the structure collapses or is no longer deemed safe for the public, Williams will salvage the wax and recycle it for another project.
“While I often encourage these sculptures to melt, I never expected this piece to melt in the way that it did,” Williams said in a statement. “This melting is 100% due to the unexpected heatwave we’re experiencing along the East Coast and around the world.”
“We’ve always joked that this piece would become environmental art if the weather got worse and we ended up living in a climate hot enough that the sculpture would melt. We never thought last weekend would be that day,” they added.
Contributor: John Bacon, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a featured news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact him at sshafiq@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @saman_shafiq7.
