The monument was closed, then opened, then closed again. It's been three years since anyone was allowed up in it, but it's back in business today. Coincidentally, I happened by the monument last evening, just in time to snap some shots of our spiffed-up national icon.
Here's what Robert Winthrop said at dedication of the Washington Monument in 1885:
"The storms of winter must blow and beat upon it ... the lightnings of Heaven may scar and blacken it. An earthquake may shake its foundations ... but the character which it commemorates and illustrates is secure."