We had just visited the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, and the Kansas State Capitol building wasn't too far away.This time the GPS got us where it was supposed to. We parked on the east side, and had to walk around to another side to the public entrance. I love these big old grandiose buildings meant to impress. (I usually am.)
Of course, we'd just missed an Historic Tour--and they were doing some work on the dome so we couldn't do that. This Capitol building is supposedly the only one in the country where you can walk around the outside of the dome. I can't tell what they're doing up there, but it better be more than just washing windows! George didn't want to go up anyway.
They pretty much let you wander around the halls. I wanted to see the murals and the dome. These hallways look really old. (Building was built in 1903, so I guess it is.) It looks like it could have been a castle.
This is a smaller version of the Eisenhower statue we saw in Abilene--more detail here than on the big one, or maybe there's just no sun glare.
There's an old cage elevator from 1923 that I would have loved to ride in.
I liked the stairs too.
The murals are pretty impressive, including the famous one about Abolitionist John Brown by John Steuart Curry. (I'm sure many of the others are famous too, but maybe you have be from Kansas to know.) Apparently there was a lot of controversy about the Curry murals, and he didn't get to finish all he'd planned on doing. So...he didn't sign them. So there!
More pictures of the capitol building here: Kansas State Capitol Building
"And, yes, I was impressed," my Mom said. And when she says it, she means it. :)
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