President Monroe's "Gothic Temple"

I admit, I have never cared to call President Monroe's grave "the birdcage" as some Richmonders do, and have always tried to use the National Parks Services' description by calling it “a granite sarcophagus surrounded by a flamboyant Gothic Revival cast iron canopy” but that's a mouthful. This morning, I stumbled upon this article from the Richmond Dispatch, May 30,1859. Now, I will refer to it as James Monroe's Gothic Temple!

In 1859, the Commonwealth of Virginia installed Alfred Lybrock‘s design. Monroe’s tomb firmly established Hollywood as one of the foremost places of burial in Virginia.

Here's a picture that I took in 2017 after President Monroe's grave in Hollywood Cemetery had been restored.