When a worker was doing renovations to the iconic Rotunda at the University of Virginia, he unearthed a hidden chemistry lab. As per the school officials, the lab was directly associated with the third US President Thomas Jefferson, who helped in designing the building.

The ‘chemical hearth’ dates back to the 1820s. It is thought to be among the few left in the world. It has two sources of heat for the conduction of experiments and a system to pull out fumes.

The University of Virginia press release suggested that the room, which has been described as ‘a semi-circular niche in the north end of the Lower East Oval Room’ was preserved because the hearth’s walls were sealed in the mid-1800s.

Amid the ongoing two-year renovation, the University of Virginia's Rotunda is still found to have its secrets because conservators are finding them

The press release read, “One of them is chemical hearth, part of an early science classroom. It had been sealed in one of lower-floor walls of Rotunda since 1850s, and thus was protected from 1895 fire that destroyed much of the building's interior”.

Previously, two tiny fireboxes of the hearth were discovered in a 1970s renovation, but until the present round of renovations, the hearth itself remained hidden. While getting ready for the present renovations, workers inspected some of the cavities in the walls and discovered the rest of the chemistry hearth.

According to the Charlottesville Newsplex, Matt Schiedt, a project manager for the company who was supervising the renovations to the rotunda, made the discovery. While talking to the publication, Schiedt said that he wanted to know how thick the walls were.