Image description: This photo was taken in 1890 in front of the Bartholdi Fountain on the National Mall in Washington, DC. You can see the U.S. Capitol in the background.

Photo from the Architect of the Capitol

Image description: The Capitol’s great cast-iron dome is an astonishing feat of architecture and engineering. The current dome is actually the Capitol’s second dome. An earlier wooden one was removed as a precaution against fire.

The replacement dome was planned by Thomas U. Walter, the architect of the Capitol extension. His design was influenced by classical European domes. To build the dome, iron brackets were embedded in five million pounds of brickwork laid on the old stone walls. The brackets hold an outer ring of 36 columns (one every 10 degrees). Thirty-six curving iron trusses rise to the lantern and support both the inner dome and the outer skin.

Work began in 1855 with the removal of the old wooden dome. In 1860, the New York foundry of Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Company won the contract to finish the dome. At the outbreak of the Civil War the contractor was advised not to expect further payment but they decided to continue anyway. That decision inspired President Lincoln and others to see the dome as a sign that the nation would also continue.

The last section of the Statue of Freedom was positioned on December 2, 1863, and the interior was finished in 1866. The dome’s total cost was $1,047,291.

Photo from the Architect of the Capitol 

Image description: This statue of George Washington stands in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Photo by the Architect of the Capitol

Image description: This painting, the “Surrender of Lord Cornwallis” by John Trumbull, hangs in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. It shows the surrender of the British army at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. This was the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War. 

Image courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol