The School of Athens
A pediment dominates the front of the building and features a sculpture based upon Raphael's painting "The School of Athens". Interpreting Hibbert's design fell to London sculptor Edwin Roscoe Mullins and features the central figure of the Ancient Athenian general Pericles, surrounded by twelve other men arranged symmetrically to either side. The sculpture is considered Mullins' principal work. Beneath the pediment is the inscription "To Literature, Arts and Science". There are further inscriptions along the sides, and on the lantern tower a quotation in Ancient Greek from Pericles' Funeral Oration.