WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some were locals who’ve watched for years as the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. took shape on the National Mall.

Some were tourists who happened to be in Washington the day it opened. All felt honored as they gazed at a towering granite sculpture of the civil rights leader.

Hundreds of people slowly filed through the entrance to the 4-acre memorial site on a warm, sunny Monday morning in the nation’s capital. Before reaching the sculpture, they passed through two pieces of granite carved to resemble the sides of a mountain.

About 50 feet ahead stands the 30-foot-tall sculpture by Chinese artist Lei Yixin. King appears to emerge from a stone extracted from the mountain, facing southeast across the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial.

The design is inspired by a line from King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered during the March on Washington in 1963: “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”