He let the heat get to his head.
A wax figure of Abraham Lincoln outside a Washington, DC elementary school has begun to melt in 100-degree heat and is missing its head.
Artist Sandy Williams IV created a 6-foot-tall, 3,000-pound replica of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the “40 Acres: Camp Barker” exhibit at Camp Barker, a former contraband camp during the Civil War (now the site of an elementary school).
“While the 3,000-pound wax figure is designed to burn like a candle and change over time, the extreme heat caused significant damage to the Lincoln statue,” Cultural DC, which commissioned the project, said in an update on its website.
However, record heat caused Lincoln to scorch more than expected, Cultural DC noted.
The wax used in the project had a freezing point – the temperature at which it begins to harden or melt – of 140 degrees, according to the group.
Even though temperatures over the weekend only reached about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the effects of the heat were evident as the statue began to tilt.
“Due to the weight of 2024 and global warming conditions, the wax is all coming back!” the group wrote.
Cultural DC noted that Lincoln’s head was melting and beginning to fall over, so it was removed to stop it from falling and breaking.
The group is currently working to determine next steps for the exhibition.
“We can’t guarantee he’ll be able to sit upright over the next few months, but who knows if that will actually happen,” the group said.
