Marconi, Guglielmo, Memorial - Washington, D.C.
Posted by: 
flyingmoose
N 38° 55.825 W 077° 02.205
18S E 323453 N 4311027
Located within a small green space along the southbound side of 16th Street NW at Lamont Street NW.
Waymark Code: WM181WV
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2023
Views: 1
The golden bust of the famous Marconi is one that stands out as it sits within an area with little flair. It was originally placed here due to its once proximity to the Italian Embassy. Above the bust is a naked woman on a globe, both of which are attached to pink granite with "MARCONI
1874–1937" on the front.
Bio
"Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor and electrical engineer, known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission, development of Marconi's law, and a radio telegraph system. He is credited as the inventor of radio, and he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy"". - Wikipedia
About the Statue:
The monument comprises a series of pink granite rectilinear masses and employs Academic Abstraction design elements, using Art Moderne stylistic details that were popular during the 1930s. The lowest component incorporates two steps leading to a broad platform. A narrow central pedestal bears a gilded bronze portrait bust of Guglielmo Marconi gazing southward.
Behind this pedestal stands a tall and broad granite slab which supports a gilded bronze sculpture comprised of electrical waves disappearing into clouds set beneath an emerging world. Atop the world sits a dynamic nude female with her left arm extending east and her right arm bent and pointing to the sky. The figure’s arms, the drapery around her legs blowing behind, and her wavy mass of stylized hair echo the electrical waves below, a nod to Marconi’s work in radio wave technology. The Marconi Memorial is the work of prominent sculptor Attilio Piccirilli.
The Guglielmo Marconi Memorial is significant as a rare example of the commemoration of an individual associated with technology in Washington, D.C. Marconi is credited with the invention of the first radio wave communication system. Congress approved legislation for the memorial on April 13, 1938 and President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill into law the next day. The monument was erected by popular subscription collected by the Marconi Memorial Foundation, and was completed on June 30, 1941.
The memorial statuary sits at the northern curved edge of the park. A red brick sidewalk, lined with two benches, separates the memorial from the wedge of lawn to the north of it. Funds for the memorial were raised by the Marconi Memorial Foundation. Its secretary, Samuel Di Falco, took umbrage at the initially proposed location for the memorial. Originally, the statuary were to be sited within Meridian Hill Park, where another notable Italian, the writer Dante Alighieri was already memorialized in stone. In an effort to appeal to modern-day Italian sensibilities, the new site for the Marconi Memorial was proposed, just one block away from where the Italian Embassy stood at the time. -- National Park Service