When its doors opened to the public in 1897, the Library of Congress represented an unparalleled national achievement, the "largest, costliest, and safest" library in the world.

Its elaborately decorated interior, embellished by works of art from nearly fifty American painters and sculptors, linked the United States to classical traditions of learning and simultaneously flexed American cultural and technological muscle.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith

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Eight giant marble columns each support 10-foot-high allegorical female figures in plaster representing characteristic features of civilized life and thought: Religion, Commerce, History, Art, Philosophy, Poetry, Law and Science.

The 16 bronze statues set upon the balustrades of the galleries pay homage to men whose lives symbolized the thought and activity represented by the plaster statues.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith

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The Evolution of the Book

The murals in the six lunettes by John White Alexander (1856—1915) illustrate The Evolution of the Book. In historical order, the subjects begin at the south end with The Cairn, Oral Tradition, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics and continue at the north end with Picture Writing, The Manuscript Book, and The Printing Press.

Government

The series of murals in the lunettes of the Reading Room vestibule are by Elihu Vedder (1836–1923) and depict Government. The central mural, located over the doorway leading into the Main Reading Room, represents the abstract concept of a republic as an ideal state. The paired lunettes to the right and left, respectively, depict the practical workings of government, and the conditions that can result from good or bad administration.  The prominent location of these murals reinforces the significance of the advancement of knowledge and learning in a democracy and the role of government in creating and sustaining a great national library for those purposes.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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The series of murals in the lunettes in the north gallery by artist Charles Sprague Pearce (1851–1914) illustrates the phases of a pleasant and well-ordered life. The scenes represent the kind of idyllic existence often imagined by poets, in which people live in an innocent, simple, and untroubled society where they begin to develop the attributes of a more refined civilization.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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The murals in the lunettes of the south gallery are by artist Henry Oliver Walker (1843–1929).  The largest mural, at the far end, depicts Lyric Poetry. Before a distant vista figures are gathered in a woodland scene with a tumbling brook at its center, a wild and natural scene that might inspire a poet.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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The gallery is framed by two large murals over its doorways, War and Peace, both by the artist Gary Melchers (1860–1932).

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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In each corner of this pavilion are relief sculptures by Bela Lyon Pratt (1867–1917). The sculptures represent Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Murals by William De Leftwich Dodge (1867–1935) ornament the walls and ceiling.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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The gallery is framed by two large murals over its doorways, The Arts mural and The Sciences mural both by Kenyon Cox (1856–1919).

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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The pavilion is ornamented with relief sculptures in each corner by Bela Lyon Pratt (1867–1917). The sculptures represent Spring (“Plant,”) Summer (“Bloom,”) Autumn (“Seed,”) and Winter (“Decay”.) Murals by the artist George Willoughby Maynard (1878–1934) ornament the walls and ceiling.

Photography by Carol M. Highsmith.

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