Our front doors are really, really big! Staff member Laura posed in front of the doors to give a sense of scale this morning. The doors first opened on October 18, 1935, but have since closed as a public entrance. Visitors now enter below the Rotunda at the sidewalk level. The bronze doors stand about 37 feet and 7 inches high and are 10 feet wide and 11 inches thick. Each door weighs roughly 6.5 tons. Why are the doors so large? The building’s architect, John Russell Pope, wanted a reminder to visitors of the importance of the building’s purpose. The public exhibition hall that Pope designed—the Rotunda where the Constitution is on permanent display—measures 75 feet high; the bronze doors leading into the exhibition hall match that in size and character. For more on the history of the doors, go to blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?p=13406
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:25:03 +0000
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