Grant's Tomb, officially designated as the General Grant National Memorial, is located at the northern end of Riverside Park in New York City. Renowned as the second largest mausoleum in the Western Hemisphere, it is a memorial to Ulysses S. Grant - the 18th president of the United States and the victorious Union commander in the Civil War.
Dedicated on April 27, 1897, this neoclassical-style structure is the final resting place of President Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. The burial vault, adorned with Doric columns on the lower level and a cupola above, was designed by architect John H. Duncan. The monumental design rises 150 feet above the ground and more than 280 feet above the banks of the Hudson River.
Grant's funeral ceremony was accompanied by a large procession of about 60,000 mourners and stretched out for seven miles. Grant's remains were kept in a temporary brick vault in Riverside prior to his entombment. A group called Grant Monument Association (GMA) was soon formed to raise funds for securing a suiting tomb.
The New York State monument was raised on what would have been Grant's 75th birthday. Later on December 14, 1902, Julia Grant died and was buried beside her husband in a twin sarcophagus.
The facade has an epitaph with two allegorical figures on its two sides. The four pendentives, at the interior of the tomb, have beautiful relief sculptures and allegorical representations. Two red-granite sarcophagi are kept inside a circular crypt at ground level. Niches containing busts of five of Grant's greatest lieutenants can be seen along its circular path.
The three lunettes inside the tomb are adorned with stunning murals, which portray the scenes from three of Grant's greatest campaigns. The classical murals inside the two reliquary rooms reveal the theater of the Civil War. The replicas of Civil War battle flags are preserved in the bronze trophy case.
A Chinese memorial can be seen at the rear side of the tomb. It includes a Chinese-English plaque and a ginko tree, planted on behalf of Li Hung Chang - Chinese viceroy and a friend of Grant.