Washington Monument to reopen for tourists after a 6-month hiatus

The Washington Monument in Washington DC will be reopened for
visitors this week for the first time in six months, according to the National
Park Service, as the US capital seeks to revive its role as a tourism hub.

The national landmark honouring one of America’s founding
fathers George Washington was closed down as a security measure in January for
President Joe Biden‘s inauguration in view of the threat after the January 6
Capitol riots. Even after the presidential inauguration on January 20, the monument remained closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Towering above the city sharing its name, the monument
celebrates the military and political leadership of Washington, whose
Continental Army led the American revolutionaries to their independence from
Britain in 1783.

The 555-foot (170-meter) obelisk was briefly the tallest
building in the world upon its completion in 1884. Hundreds of thousands of tourists
visited the structure annually before the COVID pandemic brought the country
along with the rest of the world to its knees, according to data from the
National Parks Service.

It has been closed for the majority of the pandemic,
shutting in March 2020 to reopen for a window between October 2020 and January
2021. It was shut again in January this year after Donald Trump supporters stormed the
Capitol building. Due to the threat to Biden’s inauguration and the on-going
pandemic, it was decided to keep it closed

Visitors must reserve a ticket online, and masks are
required for all.

Deaths from the coronavirus have fallen sharply in the United States in recent months, though cases are rising in some parts of the
country due to patchy vaccination rates and new variants.