Thomas Jefferson Building

mosaic John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz won the competition for the architectural plans of the library in 1873. The start of the project was delayed by U.S. congressional debates until a vote on the project was held in 1886. In 1888, Smithmeyer was dismissed and Pelz became the lead architect. Pelz was himself dismissed in 1892 and replaced by Edward Pearce Casey, the son of Brig. Gen. Thomas Lincoln Casey, Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who at the time was in charge of the building's construction. While Smithmeyer was instrumental in securing the commission, Pelz appears to have been the main designer of the building and oversaw most of the exterior work. Bernard Green, the superintendent of construction, and Casey are credited for the completion of the interiors and the artistic supervision of the building's unique decorative program. The Library opened to the public in 1897 and the finishing work was completed in 1898. The Thomas Jefferson Building contains some of the richest public interiors in the United States. The building represents a compendium of the work of classically trained American sculptors and painters of the "American Renaissance", in programs of symbolic content that exhibited the progress of civilization, personified in Great Men and culminating in the American official culture of the Gilded Age; the programs were in many cases set out by the Librarian of Congress, Ainsworth Rand Spofford. The central block is broadly comparable to the in Paris, a similarly ambitious expression of triumphant cultural nationalism in the Beaux-Arts style that had triumphed at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. On the exterior, sculptured portrait heads that were considered typical of the world's races were installed as keystones on the main storey's window arches. The second-floor portico of the front entrance facing the U.S. Capitol features nine prominent busts of Great Men as selected by Ainsworth Rand Spofford in accordance with Gilded Age ideals. From left to right when one faces the building, they are Demosthenes (portico north side), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Washington Irving, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Babbington Macaulay, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sir Walter Scott and Dante Alighieri (portico south side). The sculptors were Herbert Adams, Jonathan Scott Hartley and Frederick W. Ruckstull. The Court of Neptune Fountain centered on the entrance front invites comparison with the Trevi Fountain; its sculptor was Roland Hinton Perry. The copper dome, originally gilded, was criticized at the structure's completion, as too competitive with the national Capitol Building. Originally, the dome over the Main Reading Room was intended to be less than 70 ft tall to avoid this critique, however Casey and Green increased the size of the dome to 195 ft and covered it with 23 carat gold leaf. ==History==

Needing more room for its increasing collection, the Library of Congress under Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford suggested to the Congress that a new building be built specifically to serve as the American national library. Prior to this the Library existed in a wing of the Capitol Building. The new building was needed partly because of the growing Congress, but also partly because of the Copyright Law of 1870, which required all copyright applicants to send to the Library two copies of their work. This resulted in a flood of books, pamphlets, maps, music, prints and photographs. Spofford had been instrumental in the enactment of this law. After Congress approved construction of the building in 1886, it took eleven years to complete. The building opened to the public on November 1, 1897, met with wide approval and was immediately seen as a national monument. The building name was changed on June 13, 1980, to honor former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who had been a key figure in the establishment of the Library in 1800. Jefferson offered to sell his personal book collection to Congress in September 1814, one month after the British had burned the Capitol in the War of 1812. == Book Conveying Apparatus ==

Prior to the 2000s, the Jefferson Building was linked to the Capitol Building by a purpose built book tunnel. This housed an electric "book conveying apparatus" that could transport volumes between the two buildings at 600 feet per minute. A portion of the book tunnel was destroyed to make room for the underground Capitol Visitor Center, which opened in 2008. ==Capitol Page School==

Senate, House and Supreme Court pages formerly attended school together in the Capitol Page School located on the attic level above the Great Hall. Upon the separation of the programs (and the closure of the Supreme Court Page Program), the schools split. Senate Pages now attend school in the basement of their dormitory. The House Page Program was closed in August 2011. A small suite in the northwest corner of the attic level remains home to the official office of the Poet Laureate of the United States. ==Coolidge Auditorium==

The Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Auditorium, which opened in October 1925, has been home to more than 2,000 concerts, from classical music to jazz, and folk to pop. Some performances make use of the Library's extensive collection of musical instruments and manuscripts. Most of the performances are free and open to the public. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge was a wealthy patron of the arts and was no relation to Calvin Coolidge, who, coincidentally, was President of the United States at the time the Coolidge auditorium was established. ==Art==

According to the Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Bernard Green, who played an important role on the interior design of the building, viewed the interior art as necessary "to fully and consistency carry out the monumental design and purpose of the building". The Main Reading Room, circular in shape, is crowned by the library's central dome, the underside decorated with murals painted by Edwin Blashfield in 1896. In the dome's center, on the underside of the lantern, is a female figure representing Human Understanding, shown in the process of pulling a veil back from over her face, symbolizing the end of ignorance. Surrounding her, and ringing the base of the lantern, is a mural called "The Evolution of Civilization", depicting 12 winged figures that each represent a different historical culture or period, as well as what was considered to be their major contribution to human knowledge. These figures are Egypt (written records), Judea (religion), Greece (philosophy), Rome (administration), Islam (physics), The Middle Ages (modern languages), Italy (fine arts), Germany (the art of printing), Spain (discovery), England (literature), France (emancipation), and America (science). Around the perimeter of the Main Reading Room are eight large marble columns that are each decoratively topped with a large plaster statue of a female figure, each representing a different aspect of knowledge and civilization. Pendentives rest above each symbolic statue, with a quote from a notable author or literary work relating to each aspect. Additionally, below these 8 symbolic statues are an additional 16 bronze statues on the raised balustrades overlooking the Main Reading Room, flanking the specific aspects they are meant to correlate with. These portrait statues "pay homage to men whose lives symbolized the thought and activity represented by the plaster statues." Details of each of the symbolic statues and their accompanying portrait statues are included in the table below. Image:Olin-Warner-LoC-tympanum-Highsmith.jpeg|Olin Levi Warner, tympanum representing Writing, above exterior of main entrance doors, 1896 Image:Lyric-poetry-Walker-Highsmith.jpeg|Henry Oliver Walker, Lyric Poetry, 1896 File:Erotica at Library of Congress, Washington D.C. 02223u original.jpg|Erotica (Love Poetry), one of the eight panels representing types of literature by George Randolph Barse (1861–1938) Image:Gari-Melchers-War-Highsmith.jpeg|Gari Melchers, Mural of War, 1896 Image:Gari-Melchers-Peace-Highsmith.jpeg|Gari Melchers, Mural of Peace, 1896 Image:Minerva-Vedder-Highsmith.jpeg|Elihu Vedder, Minerva of Peace, 1896 Image:Melpomene-Simmons-Highsmith.jpeg|Edward Emerson Simmons, Melpomene, 1896 Image:Labor-Pearce-Highsmith.jpeg|Charles Sprague Pearce, Labor, 1896 Image:Religion-Pearce-Highsmith.jpeg|Charles Sprague Pearce, Religion, 1896 Image:LOC Decor 04.jpg|Mural paintings at the corridor File:Mural in Northeast Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington D.C., by Elmer E. Garnsey 11670u edit.jpg|Mural painting, Northeastern Pavilion by Elmer E. Garnsey Image:Evolution of Civilization.jpg|A portion of Edwin Blashfield's Evolution of Civilization, located on the dome above the Main Reading Room, 1896 File:Library Congress October 2016-1.jpg|Ceiling of the Great Hall File:LOC Court of Neptune Fountain by Roland Hinton Perry - 1.jpg|The Court of Neptune Fountain, 1897–98, by Roland Hinton Perry ==References==