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U.S. Capitol Building

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Taylor Shelby
Taylor Shelby
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Editor Pick

Where Government Happens!

  • September 8, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by stvchin from Tustin, California
Where Government Happens!

The US Capitol is the seat of power of our government, where our laws and policies are made. The US Capitol building is very easy to find in Washington DC, as it sits in the center of the different quadrants of the city and the rotunda is easily visible and recognizable from far away. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall.

There are two ways to obtain interior tours of the US Capitol. One is to go to the newly constructed visitor’s center on the east side of the Capitol. The better way is to contact your local House Representative or US Senator months prior to the trip and they will arrange for an intern guided tour. Either way, you still end up at the visitor’s center. We contacted our local House Rep. with our dates that we would be in Washington DC. A few weeks later, we received a letter via email with our ticket for the Capitol tour. The letter said to proceed to the House Rep’s office and an intern would accompany us to check in at the visitor’s center and take the tour.

Unfortunately we forgot to head to our House Rep’s office first and headed to the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center is a 3-story underground structure on the east side of the Capitol. No liquids are allowed, so we drank up our bottles of water and headed inside to be screened and have our bags x-rayed. The visitor’s center itself is very nice, with nice tall white granite walls and fixtures; a huge skylight illuminates the entire area. There are 2 gift shops on either side of the upper levels, 2 visitor check-in areas, a small restaurant, and an underground walkway to the Library of Congress.

Upon check-in at the visitor’s center, I noticed our letter mentioned proceeding to the House Rep’s office first. I telephoned our House Rep’s office, and an intern said to take the regular tour. We found out later that the intern guided tours visit the House and Senate chambers, if available; whereas the regular tours do not. After checking in and receiving a visitor’s badge, we were directed to a line awaiting the next showing at the visitor’s center theater.

When it was our showing at the theater, we took a nice comfy seat and watched a superbly produced documentary movie about the Capitol. The movie touched on the creation and building of the Capitol, the attack damaging the Capitol during the war of 1812, and the rebuilding of the Capitol. The movie also dealt with how government should work and the Capitol’s important purpose in our government. It was move that made people feel good about our government at work, no matter what political party.

After the movie we exited the theater and lined up for our tour in groups of around 30. Our tour guide took us down a maze of hallways and escalators until we arrived at the Capitol’s rotunda. The rotunda is a beautiful example of American neoclassical architecture. There are exquisite paintings all around depicting various scenes during important events in American history, such as the baptism of Pocahontas, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Columbus’ landing, and others. The rotunda’s dome itself is magnificent, with a beautifully painted 360 degree fresco in the center with George Washington ascending to the heavens and symbols of our country’s strengths, such as commerce, agriculture, military strength, and others. There is an amazing frieze painting just below the dome depicting the history of the United States from Columbus’ landing to the Wright Brother’s first flight. The guide said the frieze wasn’t finished due to the death of the artist, and was completed by three other artists in the 1950’s. We also noted various statues of former Presidents in the rotunda, donated by different states.

We went into the National Statuary Hall Collection, which was used as the old House of Representatives. The Statuary Hall is basically a statue storage and display room. The guide said each state is to donate 2 statues depicting important people in the state’s history. The statues are to be of certain dimensions and specifications in order to be included in the National Statuary Hall Collection. There can only be 2 statues from each state, so if a state wants to submit a newer statue, they must collect an older one currently in the Collection. For instance, California has statues of former governor and President Ronald Reagan, and Junipero Sierra, a Franciscan friar influential in early California history. The guide explained that the former Presidents were featured in the Capitol rotunda, while all others are here in the Statuary Hall or visitor’s center, or the Crypt, which we will visit next.

One interesting about Statuary Hall was the fact that it was the old House of Representative. The House was relocated to it’s current hall due to the increasing size of the Union and the need for more room due to more Representatives. An interesting feature of the room was that it was engineered so somebody standing in particular points of the room and speak at a low level of volume and be heard in other areas of the room. Our guide demonstrated that by having us stand in a certain place and wandering about 50 feet away and speaking softly at the floor, where we heard him loud and clear. He explained that the room was engineered to have this built-in acoustic effect since this was before the time of microphones and speakers. One drawback is that the effect also worked in reverse and the speaker could hear whatever derogatory things the other Representative might be whispering about him.

Our next stop was one more level below into the Crypt, which is a small room filled with thick support columns directly below the rotunda. Some more statues are stored here as well. The guide explained that the main purpose of the Crypt was structural support for the rotunda, as well as an entrance to George Washington’s tomb, hence the name of the Crypt. George Washington is not buried here since there was a snafu with his will. Congress assumed Washington wanted to be buried in the Capitol, and built the Crypt and his tomb, which were finished in 1927, due to interruptions during the War of 1812. It was later revealed that Washington’s will stated he was to be buried at Mount Vernon, so his body remains there.

At this point, our tour ended, and we proceeded back to the visitor’s center. We noticed that other tour groups that had a Congressional intern continued onto other parts of the Capitol, probably both House and Senate chambers. It was my own fault for not remembering to proceed to my House Rep’s office for the intern guided tour. Our tour took about 30 minutes, not including the introductory movie. I was disappointed that the tour didn’t show more, and basically only covered 3 rooms. Our tour guide was very informative and patient, answering pretty much any question asked of him. I particularly enjoyed the introductory movie. I was not that impressed with the small scope of tour, but the fact that it was a unique experience, being the US Capitol, I was glad I went anyways.

From journal Our Nation's Capital

Capitol Christmas Tree

  • December 9, 2007
  • Rated 3 of 5 by kwasiak from Tucson, Arizona
Capitol Christmas Tree

Starting in 1964 a Christmas tree has been annually lit on the lawn behind (side towards the National Mall) the Capitol Building. The first few years the trees came from nurseries or were cut down from Maryland. In 1970, the tradition of getting the tree from National Forests began and ever year since then the Capitol Christmas tree has been provided by a National Forest. The 2007 tree is a Balsam Fir from the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. It is 60 feet tall. The tree was lit on December 5 this year and will stay on display through the end of the year.

There is not much to see if you go to see the Capitol Christmas Tree, although it does make a festive photo opportunity with the Capitol. It is also right next to the United States Botanic Gardens, which has an amazing train and replica building holiday display worth seeing, so combining a visit to this tree with a visit there makes the most sense.

From journal Holiday Displays in Our Nation's Capital

Editor Pick

U.S. Capitol Building

  • May 28, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by mh75 from Harrisonburg, Virginia
U.S. Capitol Building

While I was in D.C., I had a prearranged tour of the Capitol Building. This was very interesting. The inside is very ornate and filled with history, as well as statues. There are two statues per state on exhibit and this gives the place a museum feel to it.

If you have the time, I would also recommend observing the proceedings on the Senate Floor or the House of Representatives to see you tax dollars at work. Quite an eye-opener to say the least. You will take away a belief that any pay raise that you ever receive from that day forward is warranted after you see these groups in action. But all kidding aside, it is fascinating to watch the ceremony and tradition unfold in front of you as these timeless rituals are played out.

When you reach the Rotunda, you will notice the large pieces of artwork that signify major events in the Nation's history. Looking up, you will see the Freize, which chronologically dates the history of the continent from Columbus to the Wright Brothers as it wraps around the base of the inner dome.

In the old hall between the Rotunda and the House of Representatives Chamber notice the acoustics of the room. This was where all business took place in the early days of the U.S. and if you scan the floors, you will see brass plaques that designate where famous former members of Congress had their seats such as Lincoln and John Quincy Adams.

Walking out to the western side of the Capitol to the balcony, you will get an excellent view of the National Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, famous from pictures.

A visit to the Capitol is definitely worth the time and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting D.C.

From journal Business Trip to Washington D.C.

Editor Pick

U.S. Capitol Building

  • December 30, 2006
  • Rated 3 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
U.S. Capitol Building

As we rode up the escalator from Capitol South station and into the fresh air, little drops of rain hit us in the face. Not a great start to the day, we supposed, but hopefully the rain wouldn’t get any harder. Worse than the rain was the 40 degree temperatures, which, me being from Texas and James from Queensland, neither of us were used to. Luckily, we had prepared on the second front and were very bundled up, although after five minutes we couldn’t feel our faces anymore.

From Capitol South, we walked north on 1st St. When we reached Independence Ave, it was rather obvious where to go—towards the giant white building surrounded by cop cars and screaming school kids to our left. The kids were outside the booth where tours start, and they seemed like they were very antsy to find out about how the nation’s lawmakers turn bills into laws. I did not envy the teachers and chaperones trying to keep the masses under control; it reminded me very much of the group of kids I went to DC with during spring break of 5th grade. Those poor teachers.

Eventually, after making a right turn, we found ourselves in front of one of the towering symbols of America. I don’t really feel the need to describe it, since it’s a rather prevalent icon and I have a feeling most of the people reading this have seen it, either in person or on TV, at least half a million times in their lifetime. It didn’t seem quite as imposing as it does with a blue sky behind it, since the white walls seemed to blend with the dull, light gray sky behind.

We spent very little time actually at the Capitol. James wasn’t too interested in a tour, and I’d taken one before, so we took time for a few snaps and that’s about it. We created a routine for pictures during the day—there would be one of James, one of me, and two of both of us together, taken by me holding my arm out (two because the first one would invariably be an incredibly zoomed in shot of James’ eye). In most of the pictures, you can tell that we are shivering and wishing we had spent much more time in the warm confines of the Smithsonian, rather than freezing our butts off in front of a large monument to a president’s greatness.

From there, we started walking towards the partially obscured Washington Monument—although at this point, it was still visible enough that we could see two glowing red eyes possessing the Washington Monument (or possibly just acting as a beacon for passing aircraft). We trudged through the mud a little to get a good shot of the entire building, rather than just part of the dome as we had on the stairs. Then, we took off towards the first source of warmth we could find—in this case, the US Botanic Gardens.

From journal DC, in the Rain, With an Aussie

The Capitol Building

  • November 20, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by mafnet from Lake Forest, California
Our group leader had ties in the Capitol, so we actually went inside! We saw what it is like to sit in the House! It is grand! Through the halls are statues, two from every state. One of the most notable is from Hawaii. A missionary with leprosy. Such a humble man had to wear a barrel and then his clothes, for his skin was easily irritated. Such figures are common, great and small. Even if you cannot get in, climb the steps, walk around. You're bound to run into a congressman at any time!

From journal Washington, D.C.

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