Benjamin Franklin National Memorial

Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
The monument in 2007
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Visitors	171,033 (in 2009)
Owner	Franklin Institute
Website	Benjamin Franklin Memorial
U.S. National Memorial
Designated	October 25, 1972[1]

The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, located in the rotunda of the Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, features a large statue of a seated Benjamin Franklin, American writer, inventor, statesman, and Founding Father. The 20-foot (6.1 m)-tall memorial was sculpted by James Earle Fraser between 1932 and 1938^[2][3] and dedicated in 1938.^[1]

With a weight of 30 short tons (27 t) the statue rests on a 92-short-ton (83 t) pedestal of white Seravezza marble. It is the focal piece of the Memorial Hall of the Franklin Institute, which was designed by John Windrim and modeled after the Roman Pantheon. The statue and Memorial Hall were designated as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in 1972. It is the primary location memorializing Benjamin Franklin in the U.S.^[3]