Heatwave: Abraham Lincoln’s wax statue melts in Washington!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The iconic wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln, America’s legendary 16th President (1861-65), who was assassinated, melted in the heatwave sweeping the US national capital Washington DC over the last weekend, the media reported on Wednesday.
The six-foot-tall wax statue melted as the temperatures, which soared to over 37 degrees Centigrade, disfigured it at the site of Camp Barker, a Civil War-era refugee camp that housed formerly enslaved and then freed African Americans.
The statue’s head was the first to melt and dangle backward in the scorching heat, followed by the legs, BBC reported.
Officials are now repairing the sculpture.
The structure was a candle and a wax structure with a plaque that said, “Please blow out your wick within 1-2 minutes.”
The melted statue’s replica, commissioned by the non-profit organization CulturalDC, is likely to be placed at the site by September 2024.
The statue was created by US-based artist Sandy Williams as part of the Wax Monument Series. It was placed at the site of Camp Barker, which now houses an elementary school.
