WASHINGTON — Visitors got their first up-close look this morning at the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including a towering granite sculpture inspired by the civil rights leader’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The site opened without fanfare about 11 a.m. to kick off a week of celebrations ahead of Sunday’s official dedication. A few hundred people had lined up outside the site by late morning on what was a warm and sunny day in the nation’s capital.

A stream of people filed into the site, reading some of the 14 quotations from King’s speeches inscribed into a 450-foot-long granite wall.

The memorial is on the National Mall near the Tidal Basin, between memorials honoring Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. The sheer size of the 30-foot sculpture of King sets it apart from the nearby statues of Jefferson and Lincoln, which are both about 20 feet tall.

The sculptor, Lei Yixin, said he wanted the memorial to be a visual representation of the ideals King spoke of in his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Sunday’s dedication ceremony will mark the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the dedication.