US Capitol Building

The Capitol Building is a working monument, the heart of Washington, D.C., and the seat of the US House of Representatives and Senate. President George Washington laid the first stone of the building in 1793, but the Capitol has evolved and grown greatly since then. Burned by the British in the War of 1812, the Capitol was recompleted in 1826, but by 1850 the building had become too small for the increasing numbers of representatives and senators. The Capitol’s expansion continued throughout the Civil War, a symbol of President Abraham Lincoln’s devotion to the preservation of the Union, and in 1868 the building was again completed, gaining the cast-iron dome that stands atop the building to this day. The most recent change to the Capitol Building has been the construction of a brand new underground visitor center almost three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself to accommodate the millions of people that come to visit the Capitol every year.

• Look up through the skylights in the new underground Capitol Visitor Center to see the magnificent dome of the rotunda soaring overhead
• Watch our national government at work on a guided tour through the building
• Learn the history of the Capitol Building and its ties to US history

For more information, visit the official website at www.visitthecapitol.gov.