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 ROTUNDA - Charlottesville, VA Posted by:  vhasler
N 38° 02.133 W 078° 30.216
17S E 719088 N 4212701
The famous Rotunda on the University of Virginia campus
Waymark Code: WM9Y5A
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 10/14/2010
Views: 11
The ROTUNDA, which, with its encircling balustraded terrace,
closes the north end of the Lawn, is an adaptation on one-half the diameter of the Pantheon in Rome. Begun as the library in 1822, it was not completed until 1826, after Jefferson's death. A shallow portico six columns wide on its north face balances the immense portico, six columns wide and three deep, facing the Lawn. Fine Corinthian capitals replace and duplicate those of Carrara marble commissioned in Italy by Jefferson and destroyed by fire in 1895. A few of the least damaged original capitals have been placed in the gardens between lawns and ranges. Broad flights of steps lead down from the porticoes. On the north a second flight drops to a paved and buttressed lower terrace. A huge annex, added in 1851-53, covered this space and obscured the Rotunda until the fire providentially
destroyed it. The terraces were arranged in 1898 when the rotunda was
restored by Stanford White.
---- Virginia - A Guide to the Old Dominion State, 1940.
The Rotunda was getting an exterior maintenance during spring break 2010. It was built at a orginal cost of $57,773, which would be just under a million dollars today.
Book: Virginia
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 213
Year Originally Published: 1940
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