This morning I had a reservation for a tour of the Capitol at 9:30. The advice was to arrive at least 45 minutes in advance, and bring a print out of my reservation notice with me. The latter requirement neccessitated a panicky printing session at the B&B because I hadn’t printed out the right part, but Kelly, one of the staff there, helped me sort it out.
I got to the Capitol at 8:45 where I found a long queue stretching up the steps; would I make it into the building in time, I wondered? Well, I did, and found that most of those queuing were actual ‘turn up’ visitors, and that once past security the queue for those with reservations was non-existent. In fact I was able to get onto a slight late-starting 9am tour.
The tour started with a 15 minute film about the history of the Capitol building and its role and significance in overall US history. Then it was onto the tour. We didn’t go into either of the chambers – House or Senate. The tour actually takes you into the public areas of the building – the crypt (underneath the Rotunda), the Rotunda itself, and the National Statuary Hall. in fact, the statues are in many ways the main feature of the tour, plus the rooms in which they are placed. Each State has the right to have two statues placed in the collection, and they are displayed in various places. Sometimes the States change ‘their’ statues – the one for Rosa Parks (Alabama), is quite recent, for example. The National Statuary Hall is in a room that for about 50 years was where the House met, but in the end the growing numbers of legislators required a larger chamber elsewhere and the current House Chamber was built.
I enjoyed this visit. The Rotunda (the space underneath the Capitol dome) is very reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome, although without the oculus. One slight disappointment was that the dome is being repaired, and as a result is sheathed in scaffolding on the outside, and largely concealed by canopies inside. But it was a good tour, its intention being, I think, to impress visitors with the dignity and power of a central institution of the United States.
After that I walked along a tunnel from the Capitol to the Library of Congress and went on a tour there. This wasn’t so good. I had hoped that there would be a number of historic documents on display here. There were a few, but the tour was mainly about the building itself. It is very beautiful, and being built at the end of the 19th century almost has a bit of an Arts and Crafts feel to it (albeit being very grand as well). But in the end I felt I hadn’t used my time very well by doing it.
Leave a Reply