Contains the oldest unaltered art gallery in the United States which displays Albert Bierstadt's 10 x 15-foot masterpiece, "The Domes of the Yosemite. Founded in 1871 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1998, St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is a private, non-profit public library and art gallery that serves to promote life-long learning through art, literature, and information services. The Art Gallery features over 120 paintings, sculptures, and other fine works highlighting the American landscape, classical studies, and reproductions of Renaissance and Baroque masterworks. Many paintings by the Hudson River School artists are on display including Jasper Cropsey, Asher B. The most prominent painting in the Gallery is Albert Bierstadt’s mammoth ten-by-fifteen foot masterpiece Domes of the Yosemite, one of the most famous paintings in America. The Athenaeum strives to be a 21st century library and stands as one of Vermont’s enduring landmarks. It is the Northeast Kingdom’s center of art and culture. The Athenaeum is the only arts-based National Historic Landmark in Vermont. Each year, the Athenaeum welcomes thousands of visitors from around the world. Offering poetry readings, internet access, book discussions, musical and artistic performances and presentations and community outreach programs, the Athenaeum continues to fulfill its original mission created by founder Horace Fairbanks. Fairbanks, whose family invented the platform scale, was an industrialist, philanthropist, and later governor of the state.
