Dome Tour

Kevin and Laura invited me to go with them on a tour of the Capitol Dome. It was pretty fun, if you like climbing a 30-story building before lunch. Luckily, I discovered that I do.

For background, here's the Architect of the Capitol site about the dome. A few interesting tidbits: the dome is made of cast iron, not stone, although it is made to look like stone. Cast iron is lighter, fireproof, and, in the 1860s, was cheaper than stone/marble/granite. The big outdoor columns that hold it up are also made of cast iron, and are hollow, so that some of them act as downspouts. Brilliant.

If you look at this 1859 drawing, you'll see that the dome is actually two domes, one set inside the other. The inner dome houses the rotunda. We climbed up between the two domes, occasionally emerging for looks at either the view or the pretty stuff in the rotunda.

This picture, although slightly fuzzy, gives you a good idea of the space between the two domes.


We first emerged to see the inside of the rotunda, and the pseudo-frieze that shows heroic- looking scenes from American history. Naturally, it starts with Columbus and ends with the Wright brothers.


Next we climbed up to be close to the fresco at the top of the inner dome. The acoustics up there are incredible.


The fresco depicts George Washington as a god, and the 13 original states as fair maidens. Gotta love the 19th century for shameless nationalistic melodrama.


From there we climbed up some more, and emerged outside into the wind. From up there, the whole L'Enfant plan of streets as spokes actually makes some sense. [Side note: I enjoyed this uncited little gem about L'Enfant from what looks to be an unofficial website about Arlington Cemetery: "As chief designer of the new national capital, L'Enfant quickly antagonized the three commissioners in charge of making sure the place got built. When they complained, he alienated his principal supporters, including George Washington, who reluctantly fired him. He spent the rest of his life dunning Congress for back pay, as lean and ragged as the dog that trailed him through the streets." Poor L'Enfant.]

The Mall, with Washington Monument at its other end, and Pennsylvania Ave radiating off to the right:


The Supreme Court on the left, East Capitol Street (with RFK Stadium at the end), and the Library of Congress to the right:


The U.S. Botanic garden in the foreground, a slice of the Potomac in the back left, and the beginnings of the Mall to the right:


The new [underground] Capitol visitors' center, under construction:


And finally, our view of the tholos, on top of which the Statue of Freedom (not to be confused with Liberty) stands:


We also enjoyed the graffiti scratched in the dome's windows. Some of it was dated 1861 (supposedly). Unfortunately my picture of that didn't come out. This one, however, is pretty good: you can see the graffiti in the clouds.


Dome tour: highly recommended.