page_title: Pawtucket Public Library
section_title: Reliefs
hierarchical_section_title: Pawtucket Public Library / Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library building / Reliefs
caption_attribution_description: English: Public Library, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
context_page_description: The Pawtucket Public Library, formerly known as the Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library, is located at 13 Summer Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Its main building, designed by Ralph Adams Cram and built in 1899-1902, and was a gift to the city from Pawtucket's first mayor, Frederic Clark Sayles, in memory of his recently deceased wife.
context_section_description: The six bas-reliefs above the library windows depict scenes from literature and mythology. Depicted are scenes from the German epic poem Nibelungenlied, Dante's Inferno, and scenes from Shakespeare and King Arthur. Across the library's front doors are depictions of Moses, as well as Egyptian, Greek, and Roman figures of law and wisdom.
  The sculptures were designed by Lee Lawrie and carved by Hugh Cairns. These reliefs were Lawrie's first ever commission. Lawrie would go on to become "one of the country’s foremost architectural sculptors."
caption: Reliefs above the six windows on either side of the pediment
exif: {}