Permitting the use of the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony to honor Constantino Brumidi on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, Brumidi is alleged to have said, ``My one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on Earth in which there is liberty.'' And to all of those who do come through this Capitol every day and see the beautiful artwork, this is what we will be honoring and recognizing next week.

This Capitol and the beautiful artwork and sculpture that is in it was done by immigrants. Most of them did not make much money and most of them died poor. But they had a deep love for America, America. And Constantino Brumidi was no exception. He was exceptional.

I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Ney) and the Committee on House Administration for bringing the resolution to the House floor. I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for managing the resolution. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) has been the foremost leader in the Congress in promoting Brumidi's prolific life and his extraordinary legacy.

It reminds me a bit of a sculptor, a famous Italian-American sculptor, Gaetano Federici, who came from Italy, and his sculpture exists all through the metropolitan area in New Jersey and New York. Similar backgrounds, came here not to accumulate a tremendous amount of wealth but to reflect their love of America, and they showed it and communicated it in their art. So it is a personal honor for me to lead the House of Representatives in remembering Brumidi with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica).

The last time he was recognized in Congress was in 1980 at the 100th anniversary of his death. The late Congressman Peter Rodino, whom we eulogized just a few weeks ago at his passing, a great American, constituent, my friend, an inspiration, hosted the service. I know that Congressman Rodino is looking down on this ceremony today and will be here next week. Perhaps he is with George Washington in what Brumidi properly named in his most famous work, the Apotheosis of Washington. Twenty-five years later, I am humbled by the opportunity to continue a legacy that Congressman Rodino pursued with passion.

Yesterday, I enjoyed a discussion with a roomful of Italian-American high school students from all across the Nation. Mr. Speaker, they traveled to Washington on a trip to explore the roles that people of their ethnic background play in the Federal Government. We discussed our grand Italian-American heritage. We discussed ways to advance its image. And when I fielded questions, one student asked, What is being done now to elevate the positive image of our ethnic community? I was happy to respond to this timely question. I told the students that today Congress would act to authorize a ceremony to honor Constantino Brumidi, the artist of the Capitol, an American

immigrant of both Italian and Greek descent.

I explained that we live in a Nation of immigrants, that Brumidi is one of the greatest that we ever welcomed. He left Rome under unfortunate circumstances, having been imprisoned in the great fight in Italy for independence with both the Vatican and the state. Rome's loss was America's gain. When the French occupied Rome in 1849, Brumidi was accused by the Church of being a revolutionary. The work he had been doing in the Vatican came to an end. He set out for America where he hoped our free way of life would allow his talent to flourish. He arrived in New York City. Think of that day in 1852. He was a proud citizen 5 years later. Hear me, 5 years later. In fact, he was known to sign some of his work ``C. Brumidi Artist Citizen of the United States.'' How fitting.

After traveling the country for work, in 1855 Brumidi's unique style found its way to the empty walls of the United States Capitol. He was commissioned by the Congress. Brumidi soon provided a unique ability to apply a classical style to create American themes. Though paid handsomely at the start of his career, Brumidi was not inspired by financial gain. After 2 years of work, he never got a raise. But his work continued.

It continued in the Frieze of American History, in the Brumidi Corridor, in the Senate Appropriations Committee, in the reception room and in the President's Room, just to name a few. And on February 19, 1880, exactly 25 years to the day after Brumidi began work at the Capitol, he died of a kidney failure. He died in poverty. And following his death, Brumidi's name and work slipped into obscurity. Much of his artwork was painted over, in fact. He was looked at as irrelevant. It was immaterial. It was not until 1952 that his grave site was recognized by the Congress, the Congress that he dedicated his life to physically enhance. It was not until 10 years ago that his work has truly begun to be restored.

Brumidi was driven by enormous talent. He was driven by enormous patriotism. His passion allowed him to adorn the Capitol of his adopted country with the grand symbolism of a democratic Greco-Roman legacy.

The event that this resolution will authorize takes a step to ensure that Americans will never forget one of our greatest historical figures. It will work to ensure that every American, Italian, Greek, or whatever, will recognize the name of Constantino Brumidi, one of the greatest immigrants to ever grace America.

This is the 200th anniversary of his birth. This is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of his artistic career. And this is the 125th anniversary of his death. It is only fitting that Congress honor Constantino Brumidi in this showplace, in the Capitol Rotunda, on the bicentennial of his birth.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 202) permitting the use of the Rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony to honor Constantino Brumidi on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House this morning in support of House Concurrent Resolution 202. This is a bill authorizing the use of the Rotunda of the United States Capitol for a ceremony on July 26 honoring Constantino Brumidi on the 200th anniversary of his birthday.

On June 22, 2005, President Bush issued a proclamation which honored and celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Constantino Brumidi. That is the action that brings us here today, to permit a ceremony in Constantino Brumidi's honor to be held in the Capitol Rotunda.

Constantino Brumidi has been called the Michelangelo of the United States Capitol Building. House Concurrent Resolution 202 was introduced both to honor the life and also the work of Constantino Brumidi, who was an Italian immigrant also with strong family Hellenic roots who spent some 25 years, from 1855 to 1880, painting, decorating, and enhancing the beauty of our United States Capitol building. Brumidi was born in Italy in 1805 and he worked as an artist in Rome and the Vatican where he had many commissions, including a portrait of Pope Pius IX. In 1852, Brumidi immigrated to the United States and he dedicated the balance of his life to making our Capitol building one of the most impressive structures in this great Nation and really in the world.

In 1865, Brumidi spent some 11 months walking dangerously high atop the Capitol Rotunda laboring on his masterpiece which if you go to the center of the Rotunda and look up, you see his famous work entitled ``The Apotheosis of Washington,'' in the eye of the Capitol dome. Six years later, he created the first tribute to an African American in the Capitol when he placed the figure of Crispus Attucks at the center of the painting which memorializes and pays tribute to those patriots who were lost in the Boston Massacre.

In 1878 at the age of 72 and in poor health, Brumidi began his final work and that was on the Rotunda frieze around the edge of the center of the Capitol dome. That frieze chronicles the history of the United States.

Constantino Brumidi's life and work exemplifies the life of really millions of immigrants who came to the United States to seek opportunity and to seek freedom in America. Brumidi and many others who immigrated to the United States provided their skills and their hard work, and they bettered their lives and they bettered the lives of their children, their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren, many who serve in this Congress, many who serve across this land and whose daily lives enrich every day the United States of America.

NAIF, the National Italian-American Foundation, is an organization which promotes American and Italian relations, cultural and business relations and numerous other U.S. Italian groups that support this effort to recognize the outstanding work of Constantino Brumidi.

Constantino Brumidi is now part of the ages. He is deceased. However, his great artistic contributions all around us in this United States Capitol live on and give both beauty and also life, continuing life, to our Nation's Capitol building.

Mr. Speaker, 2005 is the bicentennial of Brumidi's birth, and I can think of no better way to honor this patriotic Italian-American's contribution to our great Nation than by passing this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), who will relate some of the great Hellenic roots of Constantino Brumidi.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

In closing, I do thank both sides of the aisle for participating in this, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) for their leadership, and others.

Rarely do we get to use the very center of the Capitol building, the Rotunda, in any ceremony. The Congress requires a joint resolution and that that resolution be considered by the other body for the purpose of honoring one of our citizens. So it is very rare. We paid tribute to Ronald Reagan. We have paid tribute to great Americans, Rosa Parks, in awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, leaders, political and social leaders.

How fitting it is that we take time as a Congress to recognize one of the artistic and cultural contributors to this great Capitol building on the 200th anniversary of Brumidi's birth. So we not only honor next week in this special ceremony Constantino Brumidi, but also all the sons and daughters of this great Nation, immigrants, who made not only this Capitol an incredible symbol of democracy and a beautiful place to work and visit and to have as our United States Capitol, but also to honor all those who have made this a great country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 202 authorizing use of the Rotunda for a ceremony on July 26, 2005, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of a noted Italian-American artist, Constantino Brumidi.

Brumidi was in many ways a classic American success story. Born in Rome to Italian and Greek parents in 1805, he began preparing for an artistic career at age 13 by studying with distinguished sculptors and painters. Much of his artistic vision was based on the wall paintings of ancient Rome and Pompeii, and on studies of the Renaissance and the Baroque. He focused on work for the Catholic Church, including several Popes, Italian princes, and other wealthy patrons.

Forced to immigrate to the United States in 1852 from an Italy wracked by political turmoil, he became an American citizen in 1867 and established himself as a creator of historic frescoes and murals. Beginning in 1855 and lasting until his death in 1880, Brumidi is known today primarily for the murals he painted in a changing U.S. Capitol building over a 25-year period.

His training was well suited in the classical design of the Capitol building. These works of art lure the eyes of visitors upward towards sights of beauty, in addition to the historic design of the Capitol itself, as they wander through examples of his artistry in the Capitol Rotunda, committee rooms, and what has become known as the Brumidi corridors on the first floor of the Senate wing of the building.

Brumidi also accepted private commissions and periodically returned to his specialty of religious paintings for the Catholic Church which he had practiced extensively earlier in his career.

Brumidi's worked on decorations in hallways and rooms throughout the Capitol and in the Hall of the House of

Representatives and in the Capitol dome, which symbolizes the center of American democracy. His murals combine classical and allegorical subjects with portraits and scenes from American history and tributes to American values and inventions. His work on the monumental canopy, called ``The Apotheosis of George Washington'' in the newly constructed dome remained incomplete at his death in 1880, but the dome frieze was ultimately concluded in 1953. Other artists continued to work on his unfinished projects.

Brumidi's works are so admired that even in a constantly changing, crowded building where additional rooms for staff are created out of corridors which contain Brumidi's work, efforts are made to ensure that the walls and ceilings remain available to public viewing through transparent partitions.

Mr. Speaker, Constantino Brumidi has deservedly been called ``the Michelangelo of the Capitol.'' His legacy was recently chronicled and evaluated in a richly detailed 1998 book by Dr. Barbara A. Wolanin, curator for the Architect of the Capitol and published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

It is fitting in another period of major change of the U.S. Capitol building with the anticipated completion of the U.S. Visitor Center in 2007, we honor Brumidi's lasting contributions.

I want to commend the sponsors of this concurrent resolution, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for taking this initiative as well as the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel), who has sought a Presidential proclamation honoring Constantino Brumidi.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for taking the lead on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I too rise today to support H. Con. Res. 202, a resolution permitting the use of the Capitol Rotunda for a ceremony to honor Constantino Brumidi on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

To some Brumidi is known only as the artist of the Capitol. However, to many others he is much more. With his astonishing allegorical art work, Brumidi links the birthplace of democracy, ancient Greece, to the world's newest land of liberty, America. Moreover, Brumidi himself represents what his masterpieces convey. As a political refugee, Brumidi illustrates the principles upon which this great Nation was founded: Freedom, liberty and opportunity.

On July 26, 1805, Constantino Brumidi was born in Rome to a Greek father and an Italian mother. He spent his childhood studying at the most prestigious art school in the city and quickly became a renowned artist, receiving a commission to work at the Vatican. He appeared to have a promising career ahead of him. However, due to political upheaval in Rome, Brumidi sought asylum in America, where he hoped to find independence and opportunity in a new land.

On September 18, 1852, 59 years to the day when George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol building, Brumidi landed in New York.

Because of his love of democracy, it would not take Brumidi long to fully embrace his newly adopted home. That November he filed paperwork to become an American citizen.

Many of us have parents or grandparents who immigrated here from other countries, looking to escape oppression or to come to the land of opportunity to give their children a better life. Many of them succeeded in ways they never dreamed imaginable. Brumidi is one of those success stories. Who could imagine that an immigrant would be tasked with decorating the most significant building in the United States? I believe that it is a testament both to Brumidi's resolve and our great Nation's willingness to embrace those who want to share in the American Dream.

Hundreds of thousands of people walk through these halls every year, but they do not expect to see masterpieces that parallel those in famous European museums and cathedrals. When they walk through the Rotunda, they do no expect to look to the ceiling and see the magnificent Apotheosis of George Washington and the great symbolism it portrays. But when they do, they look up and see Freedom, an armed woman trampling terrified despots. Brumidi perfectly intertwined American themes with his classical Greco-Roman artwork.

Brumidi was not a soldier. He never lead an army against a tyrannical rule; but just as Francis Scott Key strikes a cord in our hearts when we hear the ``Star-Spangled Banner,'' Brumidi's legacy and contributions to democracy will live forever. I can think of no better place to commemorate the bicentennial of Brumidi's birth than in the Rotunda, under his most famous painting.

Mr. Speaker, Brumidi once said, ``My one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on Earth in which there is liberty.''

There is no doubt in my mind, Mr. Speaker, that Constantino Brumidi did just that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time and thank her for her leadership on this issue.

I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for his leadership, his passion for history, his leadership on behalf of the legacy of Constantino Brumidi in joining with me in urging the Stamp Advisory Commission to issue a United States postage stamp honoring Constantino Brumidi.

Mr. Speaker, all Americans of all faiths, of all backgrounds, of all experiences who come to this citadel of democracy are inspired by the legacy of Constantino Brumidi. All of us are influenced by him. I was just walking through the corridors of the Capitol, and this is a very busy, very crowded place. And everyone who comes to the Capitol today and during these weeks has no choice but to look at the work of Constantino Brumidi, to be affected and influenced by it.

Constantino Brumidi epitomizes the greatest democratic values that our country offers to the world: a sense of strength, a sense of pride, a sense of hope, the sense that one can come here with nothing and create an enduring and permanent legacy of their values.

Constantino Brumidi captures not just the history that we view in his works in the Capitol, but he also sends us a critical message about our future, our collective future. What he tells us in his work is that this is a special place in the world, that one can come to America and work hard, they can reach the literal zenith of their profession, and in that workforce all the rest of us can look up at what they have done. That is something that should not be taken for granted.

I would suggest that only in America could Constantino Brumidi's works be as cherished as they are. Only in America could his work force all the rest of us to look up at what he has done, and only in America could people from all faiths and backgrounds be so influenced and inspired by what he has done. That is the true lesson of Constantino Brumidi. He does not capture the past. He tells us that the best is yet to come.

So I support this resolution. I thank the gentlewoman and gentleman from Florida, and I urge my colleagues to adopt it.