Monticello

Monticello (Italian for: small mountain ), located in Charlottesville, Virginia, was the estate of the 3rd U.S. President and author of the American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, erected for its Palladian- style residential building he himself had created the plans. Together with the also designed by Jefferson University of Virginia, the UNESCO declared Monticello in 1987 as a World Heritage Site.

Plant

The mansion of Monticello was built by Jefferson from 1768 to his own design in the classical, by Andrea Palladio inspired style on his plantation. 1809 the bulk of the construction work was completed, Jefferson built Monticello but during his life time and again to. The house is considered one of the most important buildings from the time of the United States. The means from the time of Jefferson has remained largely intact, including his library and his natural history collections. Apart from the residential house and the farm buildings have been preserved or reconstructed.

Archaeological investigations of the former plantation grounds and the former dwellings of the slaves are continuing into the 21st century. By the finds, among other findings about the lives of slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries are possible over their white contemporaries have very little survived. Thus, the findings showed that the slaves were initially housed on the plantation in communal houses in the 19th century, however, lived in family units.

Monticello is now owned by the nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which makes it accessible to the public. It is a much-visited memorial.

Illustration on American currency

Monticello since 1938, imaged with an interruption from 2004 to 2005, on the back of the U.S. 5-cent piece, the so-called nickel. The front shows the traditional portrait of Jefferson.

A planned by the U.S. Mint change the subject from 2003 onwards led to political resistance under the leadership of the U.S. Congress from Virginia, Eric Cantor, who since 2001 has been MP for the constituency is in the Monticello. The protest eventually meant that only 2004 and 2005, coins were minted with a total of four new designs. Since January 2006, Monticello is on the back again in the mapped since 1938 hardly changes in the presentation (although the front page portrait of Jefferson was redesigned ).

Monticello was also mapped from 1928 to 1966 on the back of the 2 dollar bill.