Opened to the public for the first time on June 25, 2026, the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft invites visitors into a dramatic, previously unseen space beneath one of America’s most iconic monuments.
This new 15,000-square-foot area reveals the massive concrete foundations that support the Lincoln Memorial and shares the story of how the memorial was built and how its meaning has evolved over the last century. Interactive exhibits explore the memorial’s construction, and multimedia presentations trace the memorial’s role in American history and civil rights. A photo gallery on the National Park Service’s website displays drawings and renderings of the plans to make the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft accessible to the public.
In 1984, Stephen Potter, retired regional archaeologist for the service’s national capital region, and Robert Sonderman, then a Park Service archaeologist, descended to the Undercroft, where, using huge utility lights, they catalogued the things that had been left behind. The Park Service eventually recovered 33 artifacts, including old leather work boots, a rubber overshoe, liquor bottles, a cap, a milk bottle, and pieces of a rake.
The archaeologists also noted the extensive graffiti left by the original workers. They discovered drawings of the cartoon characters Mutt and Jeff; a figure that looks somewhat like President Woodrow Wilson, who was in office during the construction of the memorial; and a sketch that some think could be of silent-film star Theda Bara.
Recently, philanthropist Kenneth C. Griffin loaned his copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended slavery in the United States, for display in the Undercroft. Both are signed by Abraham Lincoln. Griffin bought them in 2025 at auction for a reported $18 million. They will be on display through June 2027. (The originals are in the National Archives.)