The Franklin Institute

The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial sits inside a massive rotunda, anchored by a twenty-ton marble statue of Franklin sitting in a chair. Sculptor James Earle Fraser carved the figure from a single block of stone, though he had to assemble the head and hands separately because the block was not large enough. The institute opened in nineteen thirty-four to serve as a center for scientific research and public education, honoring the man who once famously flew a kite in a thunderstorm.