05/07/2026
A reflecting pool symbolizes tranquility, contemplation, and remembrance, often acting as a mirror to enhance the grandeur of a monument while encouraging quiet reflection.
By reflecting the sky and nearby structures, a reflecting pool is designed to merge the built environment with the natural world, representing a bridge between the physical and the spiritual.
Architect Henry Bacon, designed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be a seamless, uninterrupted mirror that respects the original geometry of the landscape. His design was based on the European “formal gardens” style, emphasizing that a classic, unadulterated pool is the most effective.
The pool was meant to bestow a sense of majesty, dignity, and historical gravity to the National Mall. Bacon’s intention was to create a mirror-like surface that unified earth, water, and stone by perfectly reflecting two iconic monuments (the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument) with the expansive sky. The emphasis being that the water should naturally take on the hue of the sky, thereby providing a natural, quiet reflection of the sky and the monuments without artificial coloring.
Living now in a time of AI, filters, and perceived perfection achieved through distortion, I’m so glad I was able to capture the beauty, simplicity, and grandeur of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in its intended, natural state when I visited Washington D.C. a few years ago. The reflection of a cloudy, gray sky didn’t take anything away from the iconic landmark. Instead it gave pause and solemnity to the moment.
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