Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville

Virginia

Inscribed 1987

www.virginia.edu

whc.unesco.org

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the American Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, was also a talented architect of neoclassical buildings. He designed Monticello (1769-1809), his plantation home, and his ideal 'academical village' (1817-26), which is still the heart of the University of Virginia. Jefferson's use of an architectural vocabulary based upon classical antiquity symbolizes both the aspirations of the new American republic as the inheritor of European tradition and the cultural experimentation that could be expected as the country matured.

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Monticello is the autobiographical masterpiece of Thomas Jefferson—designed and redesigned and built and rebuilt for more than forty years—and its gardens were a botanic showpiece, a source of food, and an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.

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The gardens at Monticello were a botanic showpiece, a source of food, and an experimental laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world.

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The first sashes (14 pairs) of windows were probably sent from England, with the windows already glazed; the second sashes were from Philadelphia, with Bohemian glass.

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The statue of Thomas Jefferson in the gardens.

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A map of Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and surrounding area.