On Saturday, January 2, 2010, as part of our visit to my sister's family in Great Falls, Virginia, Katherine and I, along with my sister Lisa and my niece Lauren, made a second trip into Washington, D.C. with the goal of visiting the Capital building. Notwithstanding dozens of visits to Washington, D.C., I have never been to the Capital building. The first thing you notice as you approach the Capital is the dome in the center of the building, and on top of the dome sits a statue called "Liberty." She is draped in a roman looking gown and an eagle sits atop her head! It was a cold but clear day when we visited, and the dome against the blue sky made for a nice picture.
About two years ago, a new visitor's center was constructed on the basement level of the Capital. We entered the building from the north (behind the mall) and descended down a long outdoor staircase. And then we had to go through a security checkpoint which is not much different from the security screenings at any airport.
Admission to all museums and other national exhibits on the Mall is free, and admission to the Capital is no exception. Also, they run tour groups through the Capital on a regular basis. We were lucky to arrive just a few minutes before the next tour was scheduled to begin. The tour consisted of a 10 minute movie about the history of the building and then a guided tour through the historic rooms of the Capital. Unfortunately, we could not see the current houses of the Senate and Congress because they are not open on week-ends, but what we did see was very interesting.
The primary rooms that we saw were (i) the statue gallery above the crypt, (ii) the original supreme court, (iv) the rotunda, and (v) the original senate chambers.
The statues found within the Capital are spread throughout the building. Each state is permitted to contribute two statues -- which means that there are a total of more than 100 statues located here -- since they have more than just those donated by the states. It is possible for states to swap out one statue for a new one, but that has happened rarely, i.e., only three times. It most recently happened when, in 2005, California contributed a statue of Ronald Reagan and, in doing so, had to accept back one of its original two statues.
About 20 of the statues are housed in the statue gallery which also sits directly above the crypt. Interestingly, there is no one buried in the crypt. It had been the plan of the original architects that George Washington would be buried in the crypt but, at the time of his death, the Capital was not completed and, when the building was completed many years later, George already had been buried at his family home, Mount Vernon. There were some efforts made to cause his body to be moved to the capital, but the Washington family opposed the move, and George Washington's will expressed his wish to be buried at Mount Vernon. Congress ultimately decided to respect his wishes. And so, no one is buried in the crypt and there are no plans that anyone will be buried there.
We next were escorted to the Old Supreme Court Chamber, located in the Senate wing,
at ground level. The Supreme Court occupied this Chamber from 1810 to 1860. It is a surprisingly small, dark room. Many famous cases were argued here, included the Dred Scott case. In the earliest days of the Supreme Court, there were no time limits imposed on the parties who argued cases before the Court. Our guide told us that the longest time taken to argue a case was two days! As time passed, however, the decision was made that time limits should be imposed. Those limits began at several hours a side. Today, each side is only permitted 30 minutes of argument time.
Our next stop was the Rotunda -- which is perhaps the most impressive of all the rooms in
the Capital. It sits in the space directly beneath the dome. It's primary purpose is to serve as a reception room for official functions. It is also where presidents and other dignitaries have "lain in state" prior to burial. The room is primarily empty of any furniture but along the outside walls there are the obligatory statues -- about a dozen of them. If one of the two statues contributed by a state is the statue of a president, it is the custom that it will have a permanent home in the Rotunda. There are several presidential statues located here including those of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan.
Also along the walls of the Rotunda, just above eye level, are a series of eight massive paintings. Four of them depict scenes that predate the Revolutionary War, and four of them relate to events during and immediately after the Revolutionary War. The most famous of these pictures are (1) the one depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence and
(2) the one showing General Washington resigning his commission, following the conclusion of the War. Above these pictures there is a black and white frieze that runs along the entire circumference of the Rotunda and which contains a pictorial history of the United States from the earliest days of colonial settlement through the early 1800s. The Rotunda is a truly beautiful room.
The last room that we visited at the Capital was the old Senate. The room is basically emp
ty of its original furniture and now houses -- you guessed it -- a lot of statues. This room, in fact, has more statues than any other room in the Capital. Also in this room, on the floor, are bronze plaques that identify the location of the desks of several particularly famous senators - like John Quincy Adams.
All in all, our tour of the Capital was very interesting and informative, and I am very happy that we finally took the time to take it in.
No comments:
Post a Comment