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32 related to its location facing the President's House; its architec- ture was to be a symbol of national union. An octagonal cupola above the central space provided the sanctuary with abundant light, but additional light flowed in from high windows on the twelve sides of its four arms (fig. 17). Given the intense contem- porary interest in infusing important "national" buildings with symbolism reflective of the nation's founding, Latrobe may have intended the thirteen directions from which light entered St. John's to represent the original states, a potent statement wher- ever the church was located but multiplied many times by its proximity to the center of the government's executive powers. 29 Like the Capitol, Latrobe's involvement in the design and construction of the Baltimore Cathedral had two building cam- paigns, each covering about the same period of time for both buildings. Around August 1817 Latrobe had an epiphany about completing the construction of the cathedral with a double dome, the outer wood "dome to be 10 feet distant from the solid brick and stone dome within." rough this exterior dome light is thrown into the inte- rior of the church through 24 windows, each is about 10 feet high and 2 feet 6 inches wide. . . . [T]he windows being upon the sides, are not seen from within, but cast a strong reflected light through the opening, from a high decorated ceiling which terminates the view. 30 ese hidden sources of light created what French architects called "lumière mysterieuse," the ethereal light of Christian faith that seemed to emanate from Heaven. Latrobe expressed the first House chamber's overt meaning via its sculpture. e tradition of a figure of American Liberty behind the Speaker's chair dates from Federal Hall and Congress Hall in Philadelphia. Giuseppe Ceracchi's 1792 terra cotta Minerva as the Patroness of American Liberty, wearing a helmet and breast- plate decorated with a liberty pike and cap, might have been the one L'Enfant planned for New York. Carlo Franzoni's plaster model of Liberty was a colossal seated figure above the Speaker's chair in the Capitol's second House chamber. "By her side stands the American eagle, supporting her le hand, in which is the cap of liberty, her right presents a scroll, the constitution of the United States. Her foot treads upon a reversed crown as a footstool and upon other emblems of monarchy and bondage." Franzoni also carved an immense spread-winged eagle in the frieze opposite the entrance, its wing spread twelve feet, six inches in breadth. Four relief panels opposite the eagle were personifications representing Agriculture, Art, Science, and Commerce. All were ruined in the fire but some vague outlines of horizontally oriented figures are discernable on Latrobe's 1815 sketch of the colonnade suggest- ing he had designed the emblematic figures based on the relief sculptures representing the directions of the winds on the Tower of Winds. What attributes identified Franzoni's reliefs as rep- resenting America are unknown. 31 When Latrobe planned the sculpture for the second House chamber he resurrected his 1810 Athena-Liberty. In 1818-1819 George Weis made a "mould of the figure of Liberty" that was placed above the Speaker's chair, apparently following Franzoni's maquette. is Liberty held the furled Constitution in her right hand above an American eagle symbolizing her protection of America. On her le a rattlesnake—an American emblem since 1754—held together the fasces, the ancient Roman insignia of senators adopted as an emblem of national union in America. is group looks across the House chamber towards the Car of History Clock (fig. 18). e muse of History, who rides in a car propelled by eagle's wings and is decorated with a portrait of Washing ton, re cords American historica l e vents as the y occurred. e chariot sits astride a globe encircled by a band with signs of the zodiac, the twelve constellations composed of different arrangements of stars that signified the universe. e Continental Congress resolution of June 14, 1777, that selected the flag of the United States, stipulated "that the union be thirteen ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL Fig. 18. National political union, the "new constellation" represented by the American flag's 13 stars, supported the Muse of History's chariot as she recorded the new world's history.