Capitole of the United States of America

History

The precedents capitoles

Several cities were used as capital at the United States before this one is not fixed at Washington D.C At least eight different buildings sheltered the seat of the legislative power during the Guerre of American independence (1775 - 1783) and the first years of the Republic.

The town of Philadelphia initially played the part of capital and meeting room of the Congress. The representatives of the 13 colonies revolted against London held their first meeting with the Carpenters' Hall in 1774. The following year, the Second Congress continental was also held in Philadelphia: it is during one of these meetings that was signed the Déclaration of Independence (1776) and voted the American Constitution (1787) in the Independence Hall. However, following the American defeat of Brandywine in 1777 and with the catch of Philadelphia by the English armies, the Congress had to leave the city. The continental Congress settled with New York in 1785 and sat at the Federal Hall; but, under the pressure of Thomas Jefferson, he moved in Philadelphia in 1790, which made office during ten years of provisional capital of the United States, while Washington was in building site. The legislative assemblies were held then with the Congress Hall where was elaborate the Déclaration of the rights in 1790, i.e. the ten first Amendement S with the American Constitution.

Construction

The site chosen by the French engineer Pierre Charles the Child to build Capitole was Jenkins Hill , a hill overhanging of 27 meters the Potomac. It is with a Mile is 1.6 km of the White House, the seat of the executive power. The Child had provided that the building is in the east of the Mall. But in front of the refusal of the French engineer to give the plans of the édificie and to subject to the authority police chiefs named by George Washington, the Child was revoked. The stones which were to be used for the foundations and the walls external of Capitole came from Wigginton Island and banks of the Aquia Creek in Virginia. But a doctor and architect amateur, William Thornton, supported by the president George Washington and the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, proposed his in October 1792 plans. The plans of Thornton took as a starting point the large colonnade of the Louvre and the Pantheon of Rome. Its project accepted the approval of George Washington in a letter dated April 5th, 1793.

President George Washington posed the first stone of the building during a ceremony on September 18th, 1793, equipped in costume maconnic. This stone would be close to the Old Supreme Court, in a passage of the United States Senate Gallery . Actually, it is not certain that it is the original stone: it is engraved symbols maconnic and was ordered in 1893.

The building work of the capitole was undertaken by Hallet and placed under the supervision of James Hoban, who also dealt with the construction of the White House. Hallet modified the plans of Thornton for the Eastern frontage and created a central court of square form, flanked of two wings intended to accommodate the legislative assemblies. However, Hallet was thanked by Thomas Jefferson on November 15th, 1794. The architect George Hadfield replaced it with the head of the building site on October 15th, 1795; but this last preferred to resign three years later because it was not satisfied with the plan of Thornton and the progress of the work.

The wing of the Senate was completed in 1800 whereas that of the Room of the Representatives was finished only in 1811. Despite everything, the first session of the Congrès of the United States of America was held on November 17th, 1800 on August 24th, 1814 by the Britannique S during the Guerre of 1812: a thundery shower allowed the extinction of the fire. A new dome, called the “wedding cake”, was high as from 1856 to follow the enlargings of the building. The structure was carried out in Fonte, weighed three times then the first dome and had a diameter of 30 meters additional.

The representatives could hold their first meeting on December 16th, 1857 in the new room; the senators had to wait on January 4th, 1859. The Supreme court met in Capitole until the completion of its own building located behind the frontage is, in 1935. Electric lighting was installed in the years 1880. The marble terraces were arranged between 1884 and 1891, which made it possible to increase the capitole of a hundred additional parts, the columns of Corinthian Style were removed and transferred in the park from the National Arboretum by landscape the Russell Page: deposited close to a basin, they are reflected in water and evoke for certain visitors the ruins of Persépolis. In 1973, the room of the representatives was equipped for the e-voting. Its dimensions are impressive: a 87 meters height. Two platforms are arranged for the public. The wall located at the east comprises eight ionic columns marble inspired by the Érechthéion of Athens. A portrait of George Washington, painted by Rembrandt Peale decorates it. The bottom in half-circle is supported by twelve columns of Corinthian style cast iron. The part is dominated by the colors crimson and gold. The white ceiling is decorated by mouldings and the light is diffused starting from a semicircular window. A candlestick manufactured by Cornelius and Company ensured a luminous supplement formerly.

The vice-president of the United States sat down on a estrade in the center of the part to chair the meetings of the Senate. In front of him, but on a lower step the secretary of the Senate and the clerk as a chief were held. This portion of a piece is overcome of large a decorated Baldaquin of a large gilded eagle. The senators sat opposite the estrade on each of the 64 offices in half-circle represents the great moments and characters of the American history. The principal figures are those of Benjamin Franklin, the inventor John Fitch or of Robert Fulton. The Achat of Louisiana is also painted at the sides of the flora and the fauna of the country. Brumidi left empty spaces to be able to supplement later on this gallery with other events: the epopee of the Spirit off Saint Louis, the first Lunar landing and the crew of the shuttle Challenger were thus added after the death of the artist.

Brumidi also carried out several paintings which decorate the central rotunda. The fresco representing the apotheosis of George Washington is visible through the Oculus located inside the dome. It was finished in 11 months and the painter worked with 55 meters with the top of the ground. Washington is surrounded by 13 young girls inside an interior circle; the second circle surrounds of the divinities gréco-Romans. Brumidi is at the origin of the Frise which runs along the base of the dome ( Frieze off American History ). It represents a succession of great events of the American history, distributed in the chronological order, of discovered of America by Christophe Colomb in 1492, with the flight of the Frères Wright with Kitty Hawk in 1903. Started in 1878, this plank was finished only in 1953. Four different painters took part in his development: Constantino Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini, Charles Ayer Whipple and Allyn Cox.

The rotunda shelters eight more other paintings on the topic of the American history. Those which are in the east represent episodes of the colonial time: baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman, the loading of the Fathers pilgrims by Robert W. Weir, the discovery of the the Mississippi by William Henry Powell and the arrival of Christophe Colomb by John Vanderlyn. On the west coast works of John Trumbull on the American Révolution are exposed: the Declaration of Independence, the rendering of John Burgoyne, the rendering of Lord Cornwallis and the general George Washington renonçant with her load.

Capitole shelters finally a collection of statues: The National Statuary Hall Collection is in the old room of the representatives and includes/understands two works given by each of the 50 States to honor with the characters having played a big role in their history. Thus, the State of Hawaii is represented by a bronze statue of the king Kamehameha (1959). The hundredth and last acquisition of the collection are a statue of Popé, the Amerindian who directed the revolt of the Pueblos against the Spanish occupation in 1680. It was given by the State of the New Mexico on September 22nd, 2005.

Other places

A Crypte was arranged under the rotunda to accommodate the skin of first US president George Washington; but these last wills were respected and it was buried on its field of Mount Vernon. The crypt is used today as place of exposure on the history of Capitole. A star encrusted in the ground marks the point where Washington D.C is divided into four sectors, even if the exact center of the city is close to the White House.

The bodies of the presidents deceased are exposed in the rotunda for their last public homage. The tomb planned for George Washington contains a Catafalque today.

In the basement of Capitole two marble bath-tubs are which constitute the remainders of the baths of the Senate. The latter, which also offered the services of a Barbier and Massage, had been arranged for the members of the Congress and their guests at one time when few buildings had a modern Plomberie.

The driving staircase with the Western frontage counts 365 steps. All the parts of Capitole carry either the letter “S” (for “Senate”, located at the north of the rotunda), or the letter “H” (for “House”, i.e. the room of the representatives, located at the south of the rotunda).

Principal events

Capitole of Washington D.C as well as the gardens which surround it are the place of many significant events in the American political life:

the Inauguration Day
the Independence Day (American national festival)
the concert of the Memorial Day
homages of the nation to the great men deceased:

the senator Henry Clay was the first in 1852;
the president Abraham Lincoln (1865)
the representative Thaddeus Stevens (1868)
the president James Garfield (1881)
the president William McKinley (1901)
the president Warren Harding (1923)
the president William Howard Taft (1930)
the president John F. Kennedy (1963)
the general Douglas MacArthur (1964)
the president Herbert Hoover (1964)
the president Dwight Eisenhower (1969)
the senator Everett Dirksen (1969)
the director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (1972)
the president Lyndon Johnson (1973)
the vice-president Hubert Humphrey (1978)
the representative Claude Pepper (1989)
the president Ronald Reagan (2004)
the president Gerald Ford (2006– 07)

others:

the officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson (1998), died during the shooting of Capitole
the icon of the civic rights Rosa Parks (2005).

Safety

As a place of the federal capacity, Capitole was the target of attacks on several occasions. In 1954, several Porto Rican nationalists open fire on the members of the Congress since the gallery of the visitors. In 1971, a bomb explodes in the basements: the attack is asserted by a bunch called the Weather Underground in reprisals against American engagement with the Laos. November 7th, 1983, another group explodes a bomb in the hall located beside the office of the senator Robert Byrd. In 1990, three members of the Armed Resistance Links were recognized guilty bomb attacks in answer to the invasion of the Grenade. July 24th, 1998, Russell Eugene Weston Jr. open fire in Capitole, killing two officers. Its motivations remain obscure. It is possible finally that Capitole was one of the targets of the attacks of September 11th, 2001: the Vol 93 United Airlines was finally crushed in the Comté of Somerset (Pennsylvania) after the passengers tried to take again control of it. Since the attacks of September 11th, the roads and the gardens of Capitole underwent important changes to improve safety. Since the autumn 2001, the new reception center of the tourists is in the course of construction in the east of the building. In March 2007, the total costs of work were estimated at 600 million dollars.

In addition, the police force installed check-points in order to inspect the vehicles which circulate around the hill of Capitole. Barricades can be set up in the event of urgency on the avenue of the constitution and the avenue of independence. The trucks are prohibited. The less important streets are prohibited with circulation without permission.

Visit

Capitole is opened to the visitors of the Monday to Saturday the majority of the year, including during federal bank holidays. The entry can be done by three accesses: the guided visits start with the kiosk located at the south-west of the gardens; it is possible to visit on the invitation of a member of the Congress. The gallery of the visitors of the Room of the representatives is open 9:00 to 16:00 of the Monday to Friday during the parliamentary sessions.

Anecdotes

An image of Capitole is present on the back of the tickets of fifty Dollar S.

There is no skyscraper in Washington D.C because no building must exceed the capitole. Only, exception, the Obelisk of the Washington Monument.

The footpaths in the park around Capitole draw a Hibou perched on a Pyramide.

Capitole in the culture

The dome of Capitole appears in many American televised series: in the credits of NCIS: special investigations , it is associated with the American flag like symbol of Washington. In Dead Zone , it is destroyed by the breath of a nuclear bomb in the visions of the John Smith hero.

With the cinema, Capitole is destroyed in several films: by the extraterrestrial ones in Independence Day , by terrorists in Die Hardware 4: Return in hell .

See too

Random links: