Within the Crypt is Gutzon Borglum 's massive '' Abraham Lincoln Bust '' . The sculptor had a fascination with large-scale art and themes of heroic nationalism , and carved the piece from a six-ton block of marble . Borglum carved the bust in 1908 , and it was donated to the Congress by Eugene Meyer , Jr. , and accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library , in the same year . The pedestal was specially designed by the sculptor and installed in 1911 . The bust and pedestal were on display in the Rotunda for many years until 1979 when , after a rearrangement of all sculpture in the Rotunda , they were placed in the Crypt . Borglum was a patriot ; believing that the " monuments we have built are not our own " , he looked to create art that was " American , drawn from American sources , memorializing American achievement " , according to a 1908 interview article . Borglum 's depiction of Lincoln was so accurate , that Robert Todd Lincoln , the president 's son , praised the bust as " the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen " . Supposedly , according to legend , the marble head remains unfinished ( missing the left ear ) to symbolize Lincoln 's unfinished life
unfinished life
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
United States Capitol