BOULDER CITY (KLAS) — Monument Plaza at the Hoover Dam is off limits to the public for the rest of the year as it undergoes restoration. It has been honoring the workers who built the dam for almost 85 years.
Not everyone will know the area by the name Monument Plaza, but you have probably seen it. It is the area where the enormous Winged Figures of the Republic statues are located along with a 142-foot tall flagpole.
The original plaza was completed by Oskar J.W. Hansen, who was appointed consulting sculptor in 1936. Work was completed on December 17, 1937.
The current construction work to rehabilitate the plaza has begun and will continue throughout the next year. This work is to repair and preserve the aged terrazzo, winged statues and the inlays.
According to the Bureau of Reclamation the floor of the plaza is terrazzo showing a star chart, or celestial map. “In this celestial map, the bodies of the solar system are placed so exactly that those versed in astronomy could calculate the precession (progressively earlier occurrence) of the Pole Star for approximately the next 14,000 years,” according to the Bureau of Reclamation website.
If someone in a future generation were to do this it would show them the date of September 30, 1935, the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the dam.
Restoration work on Hoover Dam’s Monument Plaza is underway. (Image: Bureau of Reclamation) 
Restoration work on Hoover Dam’s Monument Plaza is underway. (Image: Bureau of Reclamation)
Hansen also designed the plaque commemorating the 96 men who officially died during the construction of Hoover Dam. The plaque reads:
They died to make the desert bloom. The United States of America will continue to remember that many who toiled here found their final rest while engaged in the building of this dam. The United States of America will continue to remember the services of all who labored to clothe with substance the plans of those who first visioned the building of this dam.