Architect of the Capitol: Statue of Freedom and today's partial eclipse. 🌘

[demmiblue]

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Statue of Freedom is a classical female figure with long, flowing hair wearing a helmet with a crest composed of an eagle's head and feathers. She wears a classical dress secured with a brooch inscribed "U.S." Over it is draped a heavy, flowing, toga-like robe fringed with fur and decorative balls. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword wrapped in a scarf; in her left hand she holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with 13 stripes.

The helmet is encircled by nine stars. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders and shield for protection from lightning. She stands on a cast-iron pedestal topped with a globe encircled with the motto E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one). The lower part of the pedestal is decorated with fasces (symbols of the authority of government) and wreaths. The pedestal is 18-1/2 feet high and almost doubles the total height. The crest of Freedom’s headdress rises 288 feet above the East Front Plaza.

Statue of Freedom does not wear or hold a knitted liberty cap, as would have been expected in nineteenth-century art. The knit cap provided to freed slaves in ancient Rome had been adopted as the symbol of liberty or freedom during the American and French Revolutions and was usually shown as red. The Statue of Freedom's crested helmet and sword, suggesting she is prepared to protect the nation, are more commonly associated with Minerva or Bellona, Roman goddesses of war. The history of the statue's design explains why she wears a helmet rather than a liberty cap. The story of her casting reveals that some of the people who worked to create Freedom were not themselves free.

https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/statue-freedom

[ProfessorGAC]

1. That's Kind If Weird

I subbed science today at a nearby junior high.
We went outside about 12 minutes before maximum, which was 94.5% of totality.
It never got anywhere close to as dark as in those pictures.
We did have a cloudless sky, but still...

[TwilightZone]

2. The pictures were filtered.

They used a filter to cut out glare, etc.

We had 100% totality here (central TX) and it was cloudy and it got dark, but nothing like those pictures, and it didn't get really dark until 100% totality. It was dark enough for the street lights to turn on.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Makes Sense

Now, it's less weird!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Wonderful images over my favorite building

[3catwoman3]

5. I usually avoid the over-used word "awesome,"...

…but these pictures are AWESOME!

[electric_blue68]

6. Great photos! I remember when this statue was installed! 🧡