The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed by Maya Lin, and constructed in 1982. It provoked controversy when it was dedicated, since it lacked the traditional features of war memorials: there were originally no statues, no patriotic mottoes, just two black granite walls, 75 m long, sunk into the ground at straight angles. The height of the walls is 3 m where they meet but they gradually taper off in both directions. The Memorial Wall contains the complete list of those American soldiers in chronological order who died or disappeared during the Vietnam War (1959-1973). There are 58,249 names in total. Later, at the request of Veteran organizations, two groups of statues were added to the Memorial: The Three Soldiers statue in 1984, and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in 1993. Still, the most powerful part of the Memorial remains the Wall, stunning most visitors with the sheer list of the many thousands of dead soldiers.