UNITED STATES CAPITOL

It is the heart of the American legislature and at the same time the heart of the country in the federal capital. The building itself consists of a huge dome (imitation of the Rome Pantheon) and two wings, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The dome, recently renovated, consists of more than 4000 tons of cast iron.

In 1791, President George Washington, in collaboration with the French architect L'Enfant, decided that the Capitol would be built at the meeting point of the four main districts of Washington. The construction was entrusted to the German architect Henry Latrobe. However, in 1815, the English destroyed what had been erected. Architect Charles Bulfinch took over and completed the construction of a part of the building in 1824. The whole was completed only in 1867. At the top of the Capitol Throne the statue of Liberty (an eagle on the head of the woman and a leg of the animal hide her ear), emblem of the freedom of individuals and the end of slavery in Washington in 1863. The statue, inspired by Greek and Roman models, was carried out in 1855 by sculptor Thomas Crawford.

To learn more about the history of the construction of the Capitol and the training of the Congress, an exhibition recounts the life of the institution on the ground floor of the building. Attention, since it is a federal building, security checks can be drastic at the entrance.