Meeting place of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government
General Information
Tours of the U.S. Capitol can be scheduled in advance on the Capitol Visitor Center website or through the office of one of your senators or your representative. Same-day passes are usually available at the Information Desk on the lower level. The last tour of the day is at 3:20 p.m
Head southeast on Scott Cir NW toward Rhode Island Ave NW. Exit the traffic circle onto Massachusetts Ave NW. Turn right onto 9th St NW. Turn left onto K St NW. Continue onto Columbus Circle Northeast. Continue onto Massachusetts Ave NE. Turn right onto 2nd St NE. Turn right onto East Capitol St NE.
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the meeting place of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the district's street-numbering system and the district's four quadrants.
The original building was completed in 1800. It was partly destroyed in the 1814 burning of Washington, then was fully restored within five years. The building was later enlarged, with the addition of a massive dome, and extended wings with expanded chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in the neoclassic style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are formally referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors and dignitaries.
The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), located below the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, between the Capitol building and 1st Street East, opened on December 2, 2008. The CVC provides a single security checkpoint for all visitors. The complex contains 580,000 square feet (54,000 m2) of space below ground on three floors, and offers visitors a food court, restrooms, and educational exhibits, including an 11-foot scale model of the Capitol dome. It also features skylights affording views of the actual dome.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "United States Capitol" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
