View allAll Photos Tagged USCapitolBuilding
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Sam Houston
This statue of Sam Houston was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Texas in 1905.
•Artist: Elisabet Ney
•Material: Marble
•State: Given by Texas in 1905
•Location: National Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol
Born on March 2, 1793, near Lexington, Virginia, Sam Houston had only one year of formal schooling. As a young adult he lived with the Cherokee Indians for three years before entering the militia during the War of 1812, in which he served under Andrew Jackson. In 1818 he resigned from the Army; he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1819 was elected attorney general of the Nashville district.
An outstanding stump speaker, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served from 1823 to 1827. He became governor of Tennessee but resigned in 1829 to rejoin the Cherokees after his wife had left him. The next six years Houston spent on diplomatic missions and business journeys in Indian country and Texas. In 1833 he was a delegate to the San Felipe constitutional convention, which petitioned for Texas’s separation from Cohuila. After the Texas Revolution, he succeeded Austin as commander-in-chief. His military leadership secured Texas independence and Houston was elected president of the Republic, serving from 1836 to 1838 and from 1841 to 1845.
In 1845, when Texas joined the Union, he was elected one of the first senators. A Union Democrat, he was the only southern senator who voted for the Compromise of 1850, opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and voted against secession. In 1859, despite charges of treason and cowardice, Houston was elected governor; however, he was deposed when he refused to take the Confederate Oath of Allegiance. He retired to his farm at Huntsville, Texas, where he died on July 26, 1863.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Moon behind north end of US Capitol
One morning I happened to be in Washington DC early for some training, so I went wandering around the US Capitol building. I remember it was bitterly cold but the light was great and the Moon was shining. I wandered around looking for various angles to place the Moon. I like this shot because it looks like the Moon is rolling down the roof of the Senate wing. (blog entry - blog.beauharbin.com/2007/10/moon-over-senate.html)
Staring up at multiple levels of architectural amazingness - with other people enjoying the Capitol as well
Today’s visitors to the Old Senate Chamber will find reproductions of senator’s desks arranged in four semi-circular rows. The original mahogany desks are now located in the present Senate chamber and were made by New York cabinetmaker Thomas Constantine, who in 1819 supplied “48 desks for Members, each $34.” Constantine also provided forty-eight matching chairs; this design is still used today for chairs made for the present Senate chamber.
Reproduction of Senate Chamber Desk
•Desk, Senate Chamber (Reproduction)
•by Engelhard and Koenig, Inc.
•Mahogany, mahogany veneer, 1976
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 33.25 inches (84.5 cm)
oWidth: 29.5 inches (74.9 cm)
oDepth: 19 inches (48.3 cm)
•Cat. no. 65.00042.018
Reproduction of Senate Chamber Chair
•Chair, Senate Chamber (Reproduction)
•by Engelhard and Koenig, Inc.
•Mahogany, loose leather cushion stuffed with hair, on cane seat, 1976
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 37 inches (94 cm)
oWidth: 23 inches (58.4 cm)
oDepth: 22 inches (55.9 cm)
•Cat. no. 65.00043.001
Beautiful blue-black clouds gathered behind the Capitol building the day after Thanksgiving, 2009. The view from the Resource Center at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is always great. To the right of the US Capitol Building is the gold dome of the Library of Congress. To the right of that is the United States Botanic Garden (USBG). In the foreground are the wetlands in front of NMAI, which represents the land before the arrival of the Great White Father.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Frieze of American History
The Frieze of American History in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol contains a painted panorama depicting significant events in American history. The frieze’s nineteen scenes are the work of three artists: Constantino Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini and Allyn Cox. The frieze is painted in grisaille, a monochrome of whites and browns that resembles sculpture. It measures eight feet and four inches in height and approximately three hundred feet in circumference. It starts fifty-eight feet above the floor.
•Artist: Constantino Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini and Allyn Cox
•Location: Rotunda, U.S. Capitol
Thomas U. Walter’s 1859 cross-section drawing of the new Dome (constructed 1855-1863) shows a recessed belt atop the Rotunda walls with relief sculpture. Eventually it was painted in true fresco, a difficult and exacting technique in which the pigments are applied directly onto wet plaster. As the plaster cures the colors become part of the wall. Consequently, each section of plaster must be painted the day it is laid.
In 1877 the Architect of the Capitol reported, “The belt of the Rotunda intended to be enriched with basso relievos [low relief] is being embellished in real fresco representing in light and shadow events in our history arranged in chronological order, beginning with the Landing of Columbus…”
The frieze is the work of three artists. It was designed by Constantino Brumidi, an Italian artist who studied in Rome before emigrating to America. He worked at the Capitol over a period of twenty-five years, decorating numerous committee rooms and the areas known as the Brumidi Corridors; he also painted the Rotunda canopy fresco, The Apotheosis of Washington. Brumidi created a sketch for the Rotunda frieze in 1859 but was not authorized to begin work until 1877. After enlarging the sketches for the first scenes, Brumidi began painting the frieze in 1878, at the age of seventy-three. His design traces America’s history from the landing of Columbus to the discovery of gold in California. As was common in the history books of the day, the Spanish explorers and the Revolutionary War are emphasized. While working on the figure of William Penn in the scene “William Penn and the Indians,” Brumidi’s chair slipped on the scaffold platform. He saved himself from falling only by clinging to the rung of a ladder for fifteen minutes until he was rescued. He returned to the scaffold once more but then worked on enlarging his remaining sketches until his death a few months later in February 1880.
Filippo Costaggini, who had also been trained in Rome, was selected to complete the remaining eight scenes using Brumidi’s sketches. When he finished in 1889 there was a gap of over thirty-one feet because of early miscalculations about the height of the frieze. Costaggini hoped to fill it with three of his own scenes, but Congress failed to approve his designs before his death in 1904. In 1918 Charles Ayer Whipple painted a trial scene in the blank section; it was later removed.
In 1951 Allyn Cox was commissioned to paint the last three panels tracing the growth of the nation from the Civil War through the birth of aviation. Cox also cleaned and retouched the frieze. The frieze was completed in 1953 and dedicated the next year. In 1986 Congress appropriated funds for a careful cleaning and restoration of the frieze to remove accumulated grime, overpaint, and streaks caused by leaking water. The conservation treatment, completed early in 1987, restored the original details and vividly brought out the illusion of relief sculpture. Minor repairs were made in 1994.
The sequence of nineteen scenes begins over the west door and moves clockwise around the Rotunda.
1.“America and History”
2.“Landing of Columbus” (1492)
3.“Cortez and Montezuma at Mexican Temple” (1520)
4.“Pizarro Going to Peru” (1533)
5.“Burial of DeSoto” (1542)
6.“Captain Smith and Pocahontas” (1607)
7.“Landing of the Pilgrims” (1620)
8.“William Penn and the Indians” (1682)
9.“Colonization of New England”
10.“Oglethorpe and the Indians” (1732)
11.“Battle of Lexington” (1775)
12.“Declaration of Independence” (1776)
13.“Surrender of Cornwallis” (1781)
14.“Death of Tecumseh” (1813)
15.“American Army Entering the City of Mexico” (1847)
16.“Discovery of Gold in California” (1848)
17.“Peace at the End of the Civil War” (1865)
18.“Naval Gun Crew in the Spanish-American War” (1898)
19.“The Birth of Aviation” (1903)
Anti-war protesters along Pennsylvania Ave during the September 15, 2007, march on Washington, DC, to end the Iraq war.
US Capitol Building Washington DC - Washington DC Stock Photography
The United States Capitol Building is located on Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall in Washington DC. The US Capitol is among the most symbollically important and architecturally impressive buildings in the United States. It has housed the meeting chambers of the US House of Representatives and US Senate for two centuries. An example of 19 century neo-claccical architecture. Architectural details include columns, porticos, arches, steps, the US Capitol dome and rotunda. A washington D.C. landmark and national icon it is a popular tourist attraction and travel destination in Washington DC.
All images on this site copyright Randy Santos 2007 - 2010
No unauthorized use of any image without written permission
All images are very high quality image files available for license in various media. Please contact for license or visit:
Below the eagle and the canopy is the desk of the Vice President of the United States. The Constitution provides that “The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate….” (Art. I, Sec. 3). This original desk, faced with a red “modesty” curtain, was used by every vice president from George Clinton to John Breckinridge.
Vice President’s Desk
•Desk, Vice President’s
•by Thomas Constantine (attributed)
•Mahogany, wool, 1819 ca.
•Overall Measurement:
oHeight: 31.13 inches (79.1 cm)
oWidth: 75.38 inches (191.5 cm)
oDepth: 25.50 inches (64.8 cm)
•Cat. no. 65.00044.000
This mahogany desk was likely made by Thomas Constantine, a cabinetmaker from New York. Following the Capitol’s near destruction in 1814 by invading British forces, Constantine was paid for supplying the Senate with, among other items, one “Large Desk for President of Senate” as a cost of $140.
A similar style desk is depicted in engravings of the chamber that date as early as 1848. The desk was used by the Senate until 1859 when they vacated the room for their new chamber. Likely put into storage when the Supreme Court took over the space, the desk was later returned to the Senate in 1973 for the restoration of the historic room.
An anti-war protester (L) discusses the Iraq war with a counter-protester at a barricade erected along Pennsylvania Ave during the September 15, 2007, march on Washington, DC, to end the Iraq war.
Today, the Senate Vestibule houses marble busts of three patriots widely admired by Americans: the Polish nobleman Tadeusz Kósciuszko, who volunteered to serve in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War; Polish hero Casimir Pulaski, who also fought for American freedom in the Revolutionary War and distinguished himself during the siege of Savannah before dying of war wounds; and Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose fight for the unification of Italy won widespread acclaim in the United States.