Capitol’s ‘Statue of Freedom’ Model Being Moved From Russell To Visitors Center

The plaster model used to cast the U.S. Capitol’s Statue of Freedom will begin its journey Monday from the Russell Senate Office Building to the Capitol Visitors Center, where it will be the center piece of the public center’s Emancipation Hall, set to open this winter.

Architect of the Capitol staffers are planning to construct a scaffold around the model, which has been displayed in the Senate office building’s basement rotunda for 15 years, and begin to disassemble its pieces.

Originally cast in five parts, the statue’s model arrived in America in 1858 from Rome where sculptor Thomas Crawford crafted the mold. Crawford died before the nearly 20-foot statue’s bronze casting was completed four years later and raised atop the newly finished cast-iron Capitol dome in 1863.

“Visitors will be able to see detail of the model for the Statue of Freedom that would be impossible for them to see by looking at the statue on top of the Capitol,” said Terrie S. Rouse, chief executive officer for visitor services for the visitors center. “We expect that the compelling story of Freedom will be something that visitors of all ages will take with them after they leave the Capitol Visitor Center.”

The female figure depicted in the statue, which weighs about 15,000 pounds, holds a laurel wreath of victory in one hand while her other hand rests atop a sheathed sword. Her helmet was originally designed as a liberty cap, a symbol of freedom for slaves. But Secretary of War Jefferson Davis objected, and Crawford substituted a Roman helmet with a crest depicting an eagle’s head, feathers and talons (a reference to the costume of Native Americans) encircled by stars.

–Jordy Yager