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File:Close view of the right side of statue looking to head and crest - U.S. Capitol, Statue of Freedom, Intersection of North, South, and East Capitol Streets and Capitol Mall, Washington, HABS DC-38-C-8.tif

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Close view of the right side of statue looking to head and crest - U.S. Capitol, Statue of Freedom, Intersection of North, South, and East Capitol Streets and Capitol Mall, Washington, District of Columbia, DC
Photographer

Boucher, Jack E.

Related names:

Crawford, Thomas
Mills, Clark
Walter, Thomas U
Price, Virginia B, transmitter
Title
Close view of the right side of statue looking to head and crest - U.S. Capitol, Statue of Freedom, Intersection of North, South, and East Capitol Streets and Capitol Mall, Washington, District of Columbia, DC
Depicted place District of Columbia; District of Columbia; Washington
Date 1993
date QS:P571,+1993-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Dimensions 5 x 7 in.
Current location
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Accession number
HABS DC-38-C-8
Credit line
This file comes from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). These are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports.

This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.

Notes
  • Significance: The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure of Freedom wearing flowing draperies. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword; her left holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with thirteen stripes. Her helmet is encircled by stars and features a crest composed of an eagle's head, feathers, and talons, a reference to the costume of Native Americans. A brooch inscribed "U.S." secures her fringed robes. She stands on a cast-iron globe encircled with the national motto, E Pluribus Unum. The lower part of the base is decorated with fasces and wreaths. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders, and shield for protection from lightning. The bronze statue stands 19 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds. A monumental statue for the top of the national Capitol appeared in Architect Thomas U. Walter's original drawing for the new cast-iron dome, which was authorized in 1855. Walter's drawing showed the outline of a statue representing Liberty; Crawford proposed an allegorical figure of "Freedom triumphant in War and Peace." Crawford was commissioned to design the Statue of Freedom in 1855 and executed the plaster model for the statue in his studio in Rome. He died in 1857 before the model left his studio. The model, packed into six crates, was shipped from Italy in 1858, arriving after some delay in March of 1859. Beginning in 1860, the statue was cast in five main sections by Clark Mills, and finished by the end of 1862. It was temporarily displayed on the Capitol grounds. The cost of the statue, exclusive of installation, was $23,796.82. Late in 1863, construction of the dome was sufficiently advanced for the installation of the statue, which was hoisted in sections and assembled atop the cast-iron pedestal. The final section, the figure's head and shoulders, was raised on December 2, 1863, to a salute of 35 guns answered by the guns of the 12 forts around Washington. On May 9, 1993, the statue was removed from its pedestal by helicopter for restoration. The work was needed because of extensive pitting and corrosion on the surface of the bronze and because of a crack and rusting on the cast-iron pedestal.
  • Survey number: HABS DC-38-C
  • Building/structure dates: 1855 Initial Construction
  • Building/structure dates: 1863 Subsequent Work
  • Building/structure dates: 1993 Subsequent Work
Source https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc1054.photos.361165p
Permission
(Reusing this file)
Public domain This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information.
Object location38° 53′ 42″ N, 77° 02′ 12.01″ W Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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current00:54, 10 July 2014Thumbnail for version as of 00:54, 10 July 20143,864 × 5,319 (19.6 MB)Fæ (talk | contribs)GWToolset: Creating mediafile for Fæ. HABS 09 July 2014 (801:1000)

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