The Rotunda

The domed brick and white-columned building at the head of the Lawn, completed in 1826 and modelled by Jefferson on the Pantheon in Rome at roughly half scale. Where other universities put a chapel, he put the library — a statement of intent that still reads clearly from the front steps.

A fire gutted the building in 1895 and Stanford White's rebuild changed the interior; a restoration completed in 2016 returned it closer to Jefferson's plan, including the oval rooms and the skylit Dome Room upstairs. The Thomas Jefferson statue stands out front, and the terrace below gives the classic view down the Lawn.

Free to enter, usually open from morning to late afternoon, and one of the few indoor options if the weather turns.