Cleveland Public Library--page 2 (of three pages)

Main Building entrance lobby--left: looking north toward the Brett Memorial Hall, the reference and reading room (pictured on page 3); center: hallway with stairways; right: vaulted ceiling The entrance is in a "T" plan with the top of the "T" being the stairway hall. Beautiful marble stairs flank both sides of the entrance. The vaulted ceilings, depicting both important mythical and historical figures, were painted in 1926.
		Hallway with grand staircases Carved in Botticino marble, the stairways are at right angles to the entrance hall. Light wells illuminate this area--as well as the reading room.
Central vaulted ceiling directly in front of the main entrance This vault has four related paintings--allegories of the musical arts, the graphical arts, the dramatic arts, and the industrial arts--all connected with delicate foliate motifs.
		The terrestrial globe This glass globe is based on a map by Leonardo da Vinci depicting North America as small islands. On the outer bronze band are signs of the zodiac.
Two of the paintings depicting famous historical figures The center image shows Augustus Caesar reading a scroll, with a container of scrolls at his feet. The left figure depicts Shakespeare.
Left: looking toward the Brett Memorial Hall (the reference and reading room); detail of the Lamp of Knowledge in the tympanum; looking toward the south entrance The leaded glass insert above the entrance door and the tympanum above the door to the reading room use the symbolic motif of the lamp of knowledge--a symbolism used in various ways throughout the first floor.

Work Consulted:
Marc Vincent. Cleveland Public Library: The Art, Architecture, and Collections of the Main Library. Cleveland: Cleveland Public Library, 1999.


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