.luckyshot

gallery

Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. One of the last actions of Thomas Jefferson was the development of the University of Virginia. He designed each of the buildings on the lawn, each pavilion representing one of the classical architectural styles, with the Pantheon-inspired library at the head. With attention to details, Mr. Jefferson designed the buildings so as to appear to be uniform in size from this perspective. His vision of education was to integrate intellectual pursuits in the context of daily life. Professors lied in the larger pavilions and had classrooms on the first floor of each. Students lived in rooms along side the pavilions. Built on land purchased (1817) from what was James Monroe's first farm, the commonwealth approved the college in 1819. With private contributions, Mr. Jefferson designed and oversaw construction of the college. (He could view the progress from his home, Monticello). In 1825, the college opened with 123 students. Today, the university has a student enrollment of over 21,000 on a significantly larger campus. This panorama of the original campus is a six-photo stitch. (The library is undergoing a multi-year restoration, thus is encased in scaffolding.)