The Great Hall North Side

Floor (North Corridor)

Floor (North Corridor)

The marble floor of the Great Hall contains a number of incised brass inlays. The center represents the sun, on which are noted the four cardinal points of the compass, which indicates the orientation of the building. A decorative scale pattern encloses the sun as a centerpiece.

Twelve squares at the perimeter of the floor of the Great Hall represent the signs of the zodiac. The other squares form two patterns of rosettes. They are embedded in blocks of dark red, richly mottled French marble, around which are borders of pure white Italian marble.

Proceeding clockwise from bottom left, the zodiac signs are Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, and Virgo.

Thomas Jefferson Bust

Thomas Jefferson Bust

The plaster bust of Thomas Jefferson is a copy of a work by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828).

Celebration of Electricity (North Corridor)

Celebration of Electricity (North Corridor)

The importance of electricity is celebrated throughout the Jefferson Building. A bust of Benjamin Franklin is placed outside the central window of the Jefferson Building. Franklin was not only a statesman but also a scientist who made important discoveries about electricity.

When the building was completed in 1897, the United States was eager to celebrate many American inventions made practicable by scientific advances relating to electricity. These include the telegraph, the telephone, electric motors and lighting devices, and the elevator. The bare light bulbs throughout the building show how important the introduction of electric light was to America and this building.

Putti - Gardener to Printer

Putti - Gardener to Printer

The figures on the staircase are known as “putti” and represent the various occupations, habits, and pursuits of contemporary American life at the time when the Jefferson Building was built in the late nineteenth century.

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art.

• A Gardener, with spade and rake

• An Entomologist, with a specimen box slung over his shoulder, running to catch a butterfly in his net

• A Student, with a book in his hand and a mortar board on his head

• A Printer, with types, a press, and a type case

Asia and Europe

Asia and Europe

Asia is represented by a Mongolian figure, dressed in flowing silk robes, the folds of which are delicately rendered in marble. In the background is a dragon-shaped porcelain jar.

Europe, clad in a toga and carrying a lyre and a book, sits beside an Ionic column―the three objects symbolizing Music, Literature, and Architecture.

Putti - Musician to Astronomer

Putti - Musician to Astronomer

The figures on the staircase are known as “putti” and represent the various occupations, habits, and pursuits of contemporary American life at the time when the Jefferson Building was built in the late nineteenth century.

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art.

• A Musician, with a lyre by his side, studying pages of a music book

• A Physician, grinding drugs in a mortar, with a distilling vessel beside him, and the serpent sacred to medicine

• An Electrician, with a star of electric rays shining on his brow and a telephone receiver at his ear

• An Astronomer, with a telescope and a globe, encircled by the signs of the zodiac that he is measuring by the aid of a pair of compasses

Cherubs (North Staircase)

Cherubs (North Staircase)

The cherubs represent the arts of Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture. Painting holds a palette, Architecture grasps a compass and scroll, and Sculpture models a statuette.

The Four Virtues

The Four Virtues

The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford and Charles Elliot, president of Harvard University.

• Wisdom
"KNOWLEDGE COMES, BUT WISDOM LINGERS"
Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892), Locksley Hall (1842)

Understanding
• "WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPAL THING; THERFORE GET WISDOM; AND WITH ALL THY GETTING, GET UNDERSTANDING"
Proverbs 4:7

Knowledge
• "IGNORANCE IS THE CURSE OF GOD, KNOWLEDGE THE WING WHEREWITH WE FLY TO HEAVEN"
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Henry VI, Part II, act 4, sc. 7 (1598)

Philosophy
• "HOW CHARMING IS DIVINE PHILOSOPHY!"
John Milton (1608–1674), Mask of Comus (1634)

Printers' Marks from United States and Britain

Printers' Marks from United States and Britain

Printers’ marks were a type of self-protection akin to a trademark or copyright today. Sometimes they protected privileges granted by kings or religious leaders. Often they incorporated mottoes and were based on the names of kings or religious leaders. Mottoes were often in Latin and sometimes in Greek or Hebrew. There are fifty-six printers’ marks around the ceiling on this level.

• Charles Scribner’s Sons

• Harper and Brothers

• Riverside Press

Figures of Genius (North Corridor)

Figures of Genius (North Corridor)

At the corners of the ceiling are two female figures holding a shield showing the traditional symbols of learning, a torch and a book. The figures are made of stucco and were created by Philip Martiny (French sculptor, 1858–1927). Stars surround the figures, and cherubs fly above them.

Ceiling (North Corridor)

Ceiling (North Corridor)

During the renovation of the Jefferson Building during the 1990s, it was discovered that the metallic ornamentation of the ceiling, once thought to be silver leaf, is actually aluminum leaf. When the building was being constructed during the 1890s, aluminum was more precious than silver. The scale-pattern design of the six large skylights echoes that of the marble flooring beneath.