It's the University Rotunda, pretty as a picture. But it's also just one of three other rotundas within a five-hour radius of Charlottesville.
While living in and around this Jeffersonian bubble, it often is hard to imagine that any other University also might showcase a picturesque dome and rolling lawn.
However, one does not have to look very far beyond the University's serpentine walls to find other schools with extremely similar landmarks.
Although the University's dome remains the original Rotunda, both Duke University and a nearby Virginia school, Longwood College, also claim their rotundas as symbols.
At Duke, an almost pseudo-Academical Village adorns East Campus' freshman quad. Duke's Rotunda-like structure, known as Baldwin Auditorium, was constructed between 1926 and 1930, a little more than 100 years after Jefferson erected his Rotunda.
Using Georgian style architecture based on forms developed by Andrea Palladio during the Italian Renaissance, the Baldwin Auditorium copies Jefferson's Rotunda with its symmetry centered around a central entrance and aligned windows.
However, the unique aspect of this Baldwin auditorium construction is that it's really a dome within a dome. The smaller dome is visible from the inside of the auditorium and contains a skylight, while the larger dome towers above.
Yet, architectural likeness is not the only similarity Duke's Baldwin Auditorium shares with Jefferson's Rotunda.
The history and tradition running through each structure draw a parallel.
"At each school's landmark, a central hub is created for the entire campus," said Liz Brookhiser, a former University student who transferred to Duke this fall.
"The buildings leading up the Rotundas at each school each have their own personal history and a unique story behind them," Brookhiser said. "Different kinds of students are seenall over seeking all kinds of knowledge."
But although both Rotundas serve similar purposes, Brookhiser is quick to point out which she prefers.
"At U.Va. there is more of a sense of authenticity and a true history behind everything," she said. "I personally think Duke's looks more like a copy of Virginia's, and Virginia's is more aesthetically pleasing."
Likewise, University students truly understand and appreciate the fundamental purposes of Jefferson's architectural vision.
"Jefferson really wanted people here to both live and learntogether," fourth-year College student Lawson McNeil said. "He didn't just want people to learn about the Corinthian columns, he wanted them to be taught about the people who were living amongst them as well."
At Longwood College, in Farmville, these days, however, the scene could not be more opposite.
One could not go anywhere on the campus without seeing the Rotunda in some shape or form. It glares, adorned with waving flags, around campus and shines while gracing signs. Unlike the University's Rotunda, the structure at Longwood is used as an academic facility.
"I think it symbolizes the beginning of the College, and it's definitely the most beautiful part of our campus," Longwood senior Nikki Wood said. "So many people have learned in and around that building for years. To know that people in your own family walked through the same halls and viewed the same art, it makes you think a lot about its history and have such a high regard for its existence."
But that regard was shaken by a disaster in April.Just as Jefferson's Rotunda was destroyed in 1895, a devastating fire demolished Longwood's signature building. Its stately, majestic icon was reduced to rubble and ashes.
Even though Longwood's Rotunda is now undergoing a redevelopment, the catastrophe made returning to the small liberal arts college campus for fall classes on Tuesday far different.
"The Rotunda was connected to dorm buildings and kids were going through there all the time," Wood said. "It was the center of our university - it still is. The fact that it is gone, at least for now, is devastating. When the Rotunda imploded, people were crying. The school just doesn't look the same."
Walking across the Lawn here in Charlottesville, students can't fathom peering over their shoulder and not being able to see the Rotunda. But even without it, Mr. Jefferson's ideals still would permeate through the red brick and white columns as they do today, although perhaps with diminished strength.
"I think the aesthetic beauty is the first thing you notice when you visit here because it draws people in," McNeil said. "However, if the Rotunda left after someone's third year, they would still come back for their fourth year."
As such, University students also recognize that although the Rotunda's significance does embody many of the schools ideals and principles, it is not the true heart of the University.
"What actually forms the foundation of this school is the exceptional students, not so much the physical buildings," second-year College student Alicia Corbin said. "But one can't help but think that the existence of such landmarks as the Rotunda enhances the character of the University. And without them, the school just wouldn't look or be quite as special."
Despite the fact that other schools such as Duke and Longwood have similar structures that stand as their institution's symbol, University students don't buy into the old mathematical saying that "two items with similar sides and similar angles are indeed similar."
"I remember my first year sitting on the steps of Cabell Hall looking through an art history book for a class and I saw a picture of the Rotunda," McNeil said. "I felt then, as I do know, really privileged to have the real pillar of excellence exist in-person."
And McNeil is not alone in her view of the University Rotunda's "larger-than-life" feel.
"While the Rotunda is one among thousands of University landmarks, I think the reason why every U.Va. student, including myself, holds it as a special symbol is because we share a part in its ongoing history and know its history that preceded our matriculation to the University," Corbin said. "It's almost like a reference point. Without it, a lot of that would be gone. But even with it gone, the Jeffersonian ideals of honor, integrity and academic excellence would still live on."
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