Washington monument is not as tall as has been believed till now

#washingtonmonument #uscapitoldome #eiffeltower The Washington monument, a stone obelisk that was completed in 1884 to honor the first president of the USA, was till now believed to be of height 555ft, 5in (169.2m). However, the surveyors of the Government have revised the height. The revised height now is 10 inches (25cm) shorter than what has been thought for over 130 years.
The new official measurement is 554ft, 7in (169m), as measured from the floor of the main entrance to the top as reported in news.sky.com dated 16 February 2015.
Of course, it is a mystery as to how this discrepancy has taken place and, one theory is that there was a pyramid-shaped tip that had been rounded off over time. This had been noticed by surveyors in 1934 and it was probably a result of frequent lightning strikes that melted the aluminum tip.
However, in the opinion of experts, the difference could be attributed to using different base points for measuring – probably, the base point being used now is not the same as that used in the 1880s.
The original measurement taken in 1884 considered four brass markers as a base for measurement. Those markers are available even now but are 9in (22cm) below ground – and it could be that when measurements were taken, those markers were at ground level.
Incidentally, when the Washington monument was completed in 1884, it was the world's tallest structure until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built. Even today, it continues to remain by far the tallest structure in the nation's capital, which strictly restricts building heights. Most of the buildings are shorter than the US Capitol dome, which stands at 288ft (88m).