When I visited the Boston Public Library's McKim Building in August 2022, I found it to be an artistic and
geological wonder. So many gastropod fossils embedded in the polished limestone floor
tiles. The complex is known as the Central Library in Copley Square of
Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The building completed in 1895 with the chief architect being
Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909).
When visiting The Abbey Room, after viewing artist Edwin Austin Abbey's (1852-1911) depiction of Sir Galahad's Quest for the Holy Grail composed of 15 panels, look at the checkerboard pattern on the floor. It consists of Istrian limestone (Croatia) and red Verona marble (Italy).
Learn more about the stone used in the McKim Building at this web site:
https://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ia/ia-structures.html
While at the library check out the 1881 portrait of American journalist/lecturer
Kate Field (1838-1896) painted by
Francis Davis Millet (1846-1912). Millet died on April 15, 1912 when the RMS Titanic sank in the north Atlantic ocean.
