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The United States Capitol rotunda is the central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.. Located below the Capitol dome, it is the tallest part of the Capitol and has been described as its "symbolic and physical heart."
The rotunda is surrounded by corridors connecting the House of Representatives and Senate sides of the Capitol. To the south of the rotunda is the semi-circular National Statuary Hall, which until 1857 was the House of Representatives chamber. To the northeast of the rotunda is the Old Senate Chamber, used by the Senate until 1859 and by the Supreme Court of the United States until 1935.
The rotunda is 96 feet (29 m) in diameter and rises 180 feet 3 inches (54.94 m) to the canopy, and is visited by thousands of people each day. It is surmounted by the American Statue of Freedom. And it is also used for ceremonial events authorized by concurrent resolution, including the lying in state of honored people.
The doctor and architect William Thornton was the winner of the contest to design the Capitol in 1793. Thornton had first conceived the idea of a central rotunda. However, due to lack of funds or resources, oft-interrupted construction, and the British attack on Washington during the War of 1812, work on the rotunda did not begin until 1818. The rotunda was completed in 1824 under Architect of the Capitol Charles Bulfinch, as part of a series of new buildings and projects in preparation for the final visit of Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. The rotunda was designed in the neoclassical style and was intended to evoke the design of the Pantheon.
The sandstone rotunda walls rise 48 feet (15 m) above the floor; everything above this—the Capitol dome–was designed in 1854 by Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol. Walter had also designed the Capitol's north and south extensions. Work on the dome began in 1856, and in 1859, Walter redesigned the rotunda to consist of an inner and outer dome, with a canopy suspended between them that would be visible through an oculus at the top of the inner dome. In 1862, Walter asked painter Constantino Brumidi to design "a picture 65 feet (20 m) in diameter, painted in fresco, on the concave canopy over the eye of the New Dome of the U.S. Capitol." At this time, Brumidi may have added a watercolor canopy design over Walter's tentative 1859 sketch. The dome was being finished in the middle of the American Civil War and was constructed from fireproof cast iron. During the Civil War, the rotunda was used as a military hospital for Union soldiers. The dome was finally completed in 1866.
In January 2013, the Architect of the Capitol announced a four-year, $10 million project to repair and conserve the Captiol Dome's exterior and the Capitol rotunda. The proposal would require the stripping of lead paint from the interior of the dome, repair to the ironwork, repainting of the interior of the dome, rehabilitation of the interstitial space between the dome and rotunda, and installation of new lighting in the interstitial space and the rotunda. The dome and rotunda, which were last conserved in 1960, are showing significant signs of rust and disrepair. There is a danger that decorative ironwork could fall from the rotunda to the space below, and that weather-related problems could damage the artwork in the rotunda. Without immediate repair, safety netting will be installed (blocking the rotunda's artwork from view).[1]
exalted amongst the heavens. It is suspended 180 feet (55 m) above the rotunda floor and covers an area of 4,664 square feet (433.3 m2).
The "Frieze of American History" is painted to appear as a carved stone bas-relief frieze but is actually a trompe-l'œil fresco cycle depicting 19 scenes from American history. The "frieze" occupies a band immediately below the 36 windows. Brumidi designed the frieze and prepared a sketch in 1859 but did not begin painting until 1878. Brumidi painted seven and a half scenes. While working on "William Penn and the Indians," Brumidi fell off the scaffolding and held on to a rail for 15 minutes until he was rescued. He died a few months later in 1880. After Brumidi's death, Filippo Costaggini was commissioned to complete the eight and a half remaining scenes in Brumidi's sketches. He finished in 1889 and left a 31-foot (9 m) gap due to an error in Brumidi's original design. In 1951, Allyn Cox completed the frieze.
Except for the last three panels named by Allyn Cox, the scenes have no particular titles and many variant titles have been given. The names given here are the names used by the Architect of the Capitol, which uses the names that Brumidi used most frequently in his letters and that were used in Edward Clark and by newspaper articles. The 19 panels are:
This is the first panel and the only allegorical one, portraying a personification of America, wearing a liberty cap, with spear and shield in the center, surrounded by other allegorical figures. To the right is an Native American maiden with a bow and arrows, representing the wild North American continent. At America's feet is a female personification of History, with a stone tablet to record events. To the left of History is an eagle, perched on a fasces, the ancient Roman bundle of birch rods symbolizing authority. To the left of America is another eagle, carrying the olive branch of peace. To the center-left in the background is a man in same pose as the prospector at the end of "Discovery of Gold in California"; this is because Brumidi planned to have the scene connect with his planned last one.
Christopher Columbus is depicted arriving in the Americas in the first of four scenes of the Spanish conquest. Columbus disembarks off a plank from the Santa María. His crew, armed with weapons, stays aboard; one crew member has a spyglass. Native Americans are portrayed greeting Columbus. Indian women and children are shown, along with native warriors to the right. The Columbus figure may have been based on Luigi Persico statue of Columbus, which was at the time of the painting the on the east central steps of the Capitol.
This panel shows the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés entering an Aztec temple, being welcomed by Moctezuma II. At the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Moctezuma and the Aztecs honored Cortés as a god, believing that he was the returning god Quetzalcoatl. The Aztec calendar stone and cult images are based on sketches drawn by Brumidi in Mexico City.
Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro is depicted leading his horse through the jungle in search of El Dorado, the mythical land of gold, in this representation of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
This panel depict the burial of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in the Mississippi River after his death from a fever. De Soto led the largest European expedition of both 15th and 16th centuries through the Southeast and Midwest searching for gold, silver, and other valuables.
Pocahontas is portrayed saving Captain John Smith, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia, from being clubbed to death.
Pilgrims led by William Brewster give thanks to God for their safe voyage aboard the Mayflower in this scene depicting Plymouth Colony.
Quaker leader and Province of Pennsylvania founder William Penn is depicted with Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans under the elm tree at Shackamaxon. This is the last panel on which Brumidi worked.
This panel shows New England settlers busily logging, sawing, and using lumber to construct a building. This is the first scene painted entirely by Filippo Costaggini.
Muskogee present Oglethorpe with a buffalo skin with an eagle in the center, a symbol of friendship and trust.
This panel depicts the "shot heard 'round the world" at the Battle of Lexington, the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War. Major John Pitcairn is shown on horseback at center, with British Army or Royal Marines troops to the right and Lexington militiamen at left.
Idealized depiction of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, authors of the Declaration of Independence, reading the declaration to celebrating colonists.
Depiction of Charles O'Hara, who represented Lord Cornwallis after the final British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown. In reality, it is thought that Washington declined O'Hara's sword because according to the custom of the time it would only be proper for Washington to receive the sword from Cornwallis himself; Major General Benjamin Lincoln instead accepted the sword.
This panel depicts the death of Shawnee chief and Indian Confederation leader Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 (partially an extension of Tecumseh's War).
U.S. Army troops led by Winfield Scott enter Mexico City after the fall of Mexico City, which ended the Mexican-American War with a decisive American victory. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which provided for the massive Mexican Cession of territory in what is now the Western United States.
Prospectors dig and pan for gold with picks, shovels, and other tools in this depiction of the California Gold Rush. In the center, three men (one possibly representing John Sutter) examine a prospector's pan. This was the last scene designed by Brumidi and painted by Costaggini.
This scene, the first of Allyn Cox's three panels, depicts a Confederate soldier and a Union soldier shaking hands at the end of the American Civil War, symbolizing reconciliation and reunification. The cotton plant and the Northern pine tree symbolize the South and the North.
A group of United States Navy sailors in a gun crew are depicted in a naval battle during the Spanish–American War. and the United States won a victory over Spain in the war. The 1898 Treaty of Paris provided for Cuba's independence from Spain and the American acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
This scene depicts the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. The Wright Flyer is shown just off the ground, with Orville Wright in the plane and Wilbur Wright running alongside to steady the wing. To the left are Leonardo da Vinci, Samuel Pierpont Langley, and Octave Chanute, other aviation pioneers, holding models of other Early flying machines. An eagle holds an olive branch in the bottom right.
Eight John Vanderlyn, Discovery of the Mississippi by William Henry Powell, Baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman, and Embarkation of the Pilgrims by Robert Walter Weir.
Among the group of eleven statues currently encircling the rotunda against the wall at floor level are six from the National Statuary Hall Collection:
These six presidents will remain in the rotunda indefinitely or until an act of Congress.
The bronze statue of marble portrait of Washington that was carved in 1790 by the French neo-classical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. Houdon's sculptures have also been used as models for other artists, including the various engravers of the United States Mint who have modeled their engravings of after his work.
unfinished life.
James Garfield, was the last American president to be born in a log cabin. Sculptor Niehaus returned to America in 1881 and by virtue of being a native Ohioan was commissioned to sculpt a monument to the recently assassinated President James Garfield, who was also from Ohio.
The bust of his head and shoulders is 36 inches (91 cm) high and stands on a pyramidal Belgian black marble base that is 66 inches (168 cm) high. Because the bust would be such an important and visible work of art, the Joint Committee on the Library decided to have a national competition to select a sculptor.
On December 21, 1982, the Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 153, which directed the procurement of a marble bust "to serve to memorialize King's contributions on such matters as the historic legislation of the 1960s affecting civil rights and the right to vote." Senator Charles Mathias, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, the congressional committee overseeing the procurement, said at the unveiling that "Martin Luther King takes his rightful place among the heroes of this nation."
John Wilson; the artist was awarded a $50,000 commission to cast the model in bronze. The bust was unveiled in the Rotunda on January 16, 1986, the fifty-seventh anniversary of Dr. King’s birth, by Mrs. King, accompanied by their four children and Dr. King’s sister.[12]
This group portrait monument is known formally as the Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, pioneers of the [13]
In addition to the National Statuary Hall Collection and the memorial statuary, there are a number of other pieces in the Rotunda. Next to the south entrance, opposite of the statue of George Washington, is a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson with the Declaration of Independence. Donated by Uriah P. Levy, it is the only work of art in the Capitol given by a private donor.[14] At the west entrance, are marble statues of General Ulysses S. Grant and President Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln statue was a commissioned by Congress and designed by Vinnie Ream. The statue of Grant was a gift to Congress by the Grand Army of the Republic. Located in the southwest portion of the Rotunda is a statue of Alexander Hamilton
Originally the crypt had an open ceiling into the rotunda. Visitors can still see the holes in the stone circle that marked the rim of the open space in the rotunda floor. After Washingtons wife Martha had declined to have his tomb set up in the Crypt, his fellows made a motion to instead place a flame there representing the founding values of the nation to be burning eternally: "When the Crypt was first constructed, Congress appointed a keeper of it, and ordered a light to be kept burning continuously within it. This light was not extinguished for over fifty years, and it was not until after the Civil War that the office of 'Keeper of the Crypt' was abolished." [15]
The main difference between lying in state and lying in honor is the designated guard of honor that keeps watch over the casket. When lying in state, a guard of honor from the United States Armed Forces watch over the casket; when lying in honor, the United States Capitol Police watches as a civilian guard of honor over the casket.
People to have lain in honor in the United States Capitol Rotunda are as follows:[16]
Other notable individuals, several of them being the Chief Justice of the United States, have lain in state in the United States Supreme Court Building while other individuals such as Ronald H. Brown, have lain in state in the Herbert C. Hoover Building.[17]
Ulysses S. Grant, American Civil War, Indiana, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States
British Army, War of 1812, United States Capitol rotunda, Kingdom of Great Britain, John Burgoyne
New York City, War of 1812, United States Capitol rotunda, Kingdom of Great Britain, American Revolution