The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, located in the rotunda of The Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., features a colossal statue of a seated Benjamin Franklin, American writer, inventor, and statesman. The 20-foot (6.1 m)-tall memorial, was sculpted by James Earle Fraser between 1906 and 1911 and dedicated in 1938. With a weight of 30 short tons (27 t) the statue rests on a 92-short-ton (83 t) pedestal of white Seravezza marble. It is the focal piece of the Memorial Hall of the Franklin Institute, which was designed by John Windrim and modeled after the Roman Pantheon. The statue and Memorial Hall were designated as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in 1972. It is the primary location memorializing Benjamin Franklin in the U.S.