There are 16 bronze statues surrounding the railing of the gallery under the dome, representing leaders in great fields of learning, as follows:
Religion: Moses the great lawgiver, holding the Tables of the Law, given at Mount Sinai, by Charles Henry Niehaus; St. Paul, with sword and scroll, by John Donoghue.
Commerce: Christopher Columbus, by Paul Bartlett; Robert Fulton, holding a model of his first steamboat, Clermont, by Lewis Potter.
History: Herodotus, the “Father of History,” by Daniel Chester French; Edward Gibbon, author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by C. H. Niehaus.
Art: Michelangelo, by Paul Bartlett; Beethoven, by Theodor Bauer.
Philosophy: Plato, by John J. Boyle; Francis Bacon, by John J. Boyle.
Poetry: Homer, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens; Shakespeare, by Frederick W. MacMonnies.
Law: Solon, by F. Wellington Ruckstuhl; James Kent, by George E. Bissell.
Science: Newton, by Cyrus E. Dallin; Joseph Henry, by Herbert Adams.
Numerous paintings, mosaics, and inscriptions adorn the interior walls. The dark Tennessee, the red Numidia, and the shades of yellow Sienna marble give the room a rich color effect.