File:LoC-TJ-Great-Hall-from-2nd-floor-Highsmith.jpeg

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Description
English: Great Hall. View from the second floor west corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.

Once in the Great Hall, you will be able to appreciate the grandeur of the architecture. The ceiling, 75 feet above the marble floor, is decorated with stained glass skylights supported by elaborately paneled beams finished in aluminum leaf. In the center of the marble floor is a large brass inlay shaped like a sun, on which are inscribed the four cardinal points of the compass. Bordering the sun on four sides are round medallions with 12 brass inlays representing the signs of the zodiac. In niches on the west side of the hall are two bronze masks formerly used as drinking fountains.

On the east side is the Commemorative Arch leading back to the Main Reading Room (pictured in the image on the right). Inscribed into the frieze above are the words Library of Congress. Above that, flanked by eagles, is a tablet with the names of the engineers and architects who were responsible for the design and construction of the Jefferson Building.

Image of the detail on one staircase in the Library of Congress' Great HallTwo grand staircases that display the work of sculptor Philip Martiny flank the Great Hall (one of these staircases is shown in the image to the left). Upon the newel post at the base of the railing of each staircase stands an unnamed, larger-than-life-size bronze female figure holding aloft a torch. Be sure to look closely at the marble figures carved into the outside of the railings. These putti, or small children, complete with the tools of their trade, represent the various occupations, habits and pursuits of "modern life": a musician with lyre and music book; an electrician holding a telephone; and an entomologist, with specimen box and butterfly net; among others. Note especially the two figures flanking globes halfway up the staircase on each side. On the south side of the hall are represented Africa and America, with those continents shown on the globe between them; on the north side are Europe and Asia.

(Much of the preceding text is derived from the Library of Congress's virtual tour of the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building.)
Date
Source Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-01968 (original digital file), uncompressed archival TIFF version (175 MiB), converted to JPEG (quality level 88) with the GIMP 2.6.7
Author Building and artwork designed and built 1896 by various architects and artists. Photographed 2007 by Carol Highsmith (1946–), who explicitly placed the photograph in the public domain.
Permission
(Reusing this file)		 No known restriction on publication.


This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID highsm.01968.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.

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Licensing

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Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer.

You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States. Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Jamaica has 95 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Honduras has a general copyright term of 75 years, but it does implement the rule of the shorter term. Copyright may extend on works created by French who died for France in World War II (more information), Russians who served in the Eastern Front of World War II (known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia) and posthumously rehabilitated victims of Soviet repressions (more information).

This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

Public domain This work is from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.
Carol M. Highsmith has stipulated that her photographs are in the public domain. Photographs of sculpture or other works of art may be restricted by the copyright of the artist; see Commons:FOP US#Artworks and sculptures for more information.

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current10:15, 20 November 2009Thumbnail for version as of 10:15, 20 November 20096,785 × 9,038 (8.59 MB)Eubulides (talk | contribs)== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description= {{en|Great Hall. View from the second floor west corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. Once in the Great Hall, you will be able to appreciate the grandeur of the archi

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