DC -- U.S. Capitol Visitor Center (Emancipation Hall):
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- CAPVC_110217_02.JPG: Gen E Kirby Smith CSA
1824 1893
Florida's Memorial
To her most distinguished soldier
Bronze by C. Adrian Pillars .
Given in 1922 .
Location: CVC
Edmund Kirby Smith, soldier and educator, was born on May 16, 1824, in St. Augustine, Florida, where his father was a lawyer and a judge. Graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1845, he served in the Mexican War under General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott and was brevetted for gallantry. After the war he taught mathematics at the Military Academy and served in the cavalry on the frontier. His botany reports, written while accompanying the Mexican Boundary Commission, were published by the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1861 he resigned from the army to join the Confederate forces. He was commissioned colonel of the cavalry and rose to the rank of general. He served as chief of staff to General Joseph E. Johnston at Harper's Ferry and helped organize the Army of the Shenandoah. While commanding a brigade in the army, he was severely wounded at Manassas. From 1863 until the end of the war he commanded the Trans-Mississippi department. He surrendered the last military force of the Confederacy.
After the war he considered, but abandoned, a plan to settle in Mexico. He was president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, chancellor of the University of Nashville from 1870 to 1875, and professor of mathematics at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He died on March 28, 1893, at Sewanee, the last surviving full general of either army.
- CAPVC_110217_09.JPG: Marble by Frederic W. Ruckstull .
Given in 1929 .
Location: CVC
Wade Hampton was born on March 28, 1818, in Charleston, South Carolina, to one of the wealthiest landowner families in the state. His early years were spent on the family estates at "Millwood" and "Cashier's Valley." In 1836 Hampton graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina). After the death of his father, he retreated to his grandfather's Mississippi plantation and assumed the life of a planter.
He was elected in 1852 to the South Carolina legislature from Richland County and served until 1856; he then served in the state Senate until he resigned in 1861. Though he had not favored secession, he supported the Confederacy from the outset. He offered his cotton for exchange in Europe for arms and he raised a legion of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. His experience and skill as a horseman made him a superior cavalry officer. In 1862 he was advanced to brigadier general of the cavalry. He was involved in many major battles, including Gettysburg.
Hampton was promoted to major general in 1863 and lieutenant general in 1865. From 1876 to 1896 Wade Hampton was a symbol of South Carolina politics, serving as Governor from 1876 to 1879 and as U.S. Senator from 1879 to 1891. From 1891 to 1897 he served as United States Railroad Commissioner. He died in Columbia, South Carolina, on April 11, 1902.
- CAPVC_110217_21.JPG: Bronze by Gifford MacG. Proctor .
Given in 1953 .
Location: CVC
Dr. John McLoughlin was born in La Riviere du Loup in Quebec Province, Canada, on October 19, 1784. He studied as a medical apprentice and was admitted to practice at age 19. In 1803 he was hired as a physician at Fort William, a fur-gathering post of the North West Company on Lake Superior. There he became a trader and mastered the Indian languages. In 1814 he became a partner in the company and was instrumental in the negotiations leading to its 1821 merger with the Hudson Bay Company.
In 1824 McLoughlin was appointed head of the Columbia Department, which comprised 600,000 square miles from Spanish California to Russian Alaska. Before the provisional government was established, McLoughlin was the chief authority in the vast Northwest. From his headquarters in Fort Vancouver he supervised trade and kept peace with the Indians, inaugurated salmon and timber trade with California and Hawaii, and supplied Russian Alaska with produce. He welcomed new settlers, especially the missionaries, often lending them seed and grain. He also developed saw and grist mills in Oregon City and in 1845 built a home there.
When Oregon City became the capital of the American provisional government, McLoughlin acknowledged its authority. This led to his resignation in 1845 from the British-controlled Hudson Bay Company. In 1849 he became an American citizen. He died in his Oregon City home on September 3, 1857.
- CAPVC_110217_35.JPG: Bronze by Augustus Lukeman .
Given in 1931 .
Location: CVC
James Zachariah George, Mississippi's "Great Commoner," was born on October 20, 1826, in Monroe County, Georgia, but moved to Mississippi when his widowed mother remarried. He served as a private in the Mexican War under Jefferson Davis. On his return, George studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1854 he became a reporter of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, and over the next 20 years he prepared a 10-volume digest of its cases. As a member of the Mississippi Secession Convention, he signed the Ordinance of Secession.
A Confederate colonel during the Civil War, he was captured twice and spent two years in prison, where he conducted a law course for his fellow prisoners. After the war, he returned to the practice of law. In 1879 he was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court and immediately was chosen chief justice by his colleagues.
From 1881 until his death he represented Mississippi in the United States Senate, where he was recognized for his skills in debate, helped frame the future Sherman Anti-Trust Act, introduced the bill for agricultural college experiment stations, and encouraged the establishment of the Department of Agriculture. He also served as a member of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890 and successfully defended the constitution before the Senate and the Supreme Court. George died on August 14, 1897, in Mississippi City, Mississippi, where he had gone for health treatment.
- CAPVC_110217_49.JPG: ???
- CAPVC_110217_58.JPG: Bronze by Charles H. Niehaus .
Given in 1929 .
Location: CVC
Ephraim McDowell was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on November 11, 1771. His father was a veteran of the French and Indian War as well as a colonel during the Revolution. After the family moved to Kentucky the senior McDowell participated in the drafting of the Kentucky Constitution. The young McDowell, interested in medicine, studied at the Seminary of Worley and James and attended lectures in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 1793 to 1794. Although he did not receive a degree from Edinburgh, he pursued his interest in anatomy and surgery.
McDowell practiced surgery and was a pioneer in abdominal surgical techniques, performing the first ovariotomy in the United States in 1809. One of his most famous patients was James K. Polk, for whom he removed a gall stone and repaired a hernia. McDowell was a member of the Philadelphia Medical Society in 1817 and a founder of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, in 1819. He was also well known for his generosity, and he performed considerable work for charity.
In June 1830 McDowell was stricken with an acute attack of violent pain, nausea, and fever. He died on June 25, most likely a victim of appendicitis. In 1879 a monument was erected in his honor in Danville. Dr. McDowell was the great great grandfather of General John Campbell Greenway, whose statue was placed in the National Statuary Hall collection by the state of Arizona.
- CAPVC_110217_66.JPG: Marble by Bryant Baker .
Given in 1934 .
Location: CVC
John Middleton Clayton was born into a distinguished Delaware family on July 24, 1796. His father, a farmer by occupation, was also a student of the classics, a taste inherited by his son. John Clayton entered Yale college on his 15th birthday and graduated with the highest honors in his class. He was admitted to the bar in 1819 at the age of 23 and in 1824 he was elected to the Delaware legislature.
In 1829 Clayton was elected to the U.S. Senate, its youngest member at an illustrious time in the Senate's history. A member of the Whig Party, Clayton was a strong ally of Henry Clay. He was known for his oratory and his abhorrence of corruption; his investigation of the Post Office Department led to its reorganization. Clayton favored the extension of the charter for the United States Bank. When President Jackson removed federal funds from the bank, Clayton voted with the majority of the Senate to censure the Chief Executive. Clayton resigned his Senate seat in 1836. He soon accepted the appointment as chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, but he resigned in 1839 to support the presidential candidacy of William Henry Harrison.
He served again in the U.S. Senate from 1845 to 1849. As President Zachary Taylor's secretary of state in 1850 he negotiated the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, laying the groundwork for America's eventual building of the Panama Canal. John Clayton died on November 9, 1856.
- CAPVC_110217_89.JPG: Bronze by Terry Mimnaugh .
Given in 1985 .
Location: CVC
Jeannette Rankin was born on June 11, 1880, near Missoula, Montana. Educated in the public schools, she graduated from the University of Montana in 1902 and studied at the School of Philanthropy in New York City. She undertook social work in Seattle, Washington, in 1909 and in subsequent years worked for woman suffrage in Washington, California, and Montana. She traveled to New Zealand in 1915 and gained first-hand knowledge of social conditions by working as a seamstress.
In 1916, Rankin became the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in 1918, engaged in social work for the next three decades, and was re-elected to the House in 1940. She did not seek re-election in 1942. In her last 30 years she was a rancher, a lecturer, and a lobbyist for peace and women's rights.
Rankin supported the cause of peace throughout her life. She voted against America's entry into World Wars I and II, and she was the only member of Congress to oppose the declaration of war on Japan. She died in Carmel, California, on May 18, 1973.
- CAPVC_110511_02.JPG: Capitol dome through the White House Visitor Center skylight
- CAPVC_110511_07.JPG: Mother Joseph Statue
The Basics
Artist: Felix W. de Weldon
Materials: Bronze
Year 1980
Location: Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitor Center
This statue of Mother Joseph was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Washington in 1980.
On April 16, 1823, Esther Pariseau was born in St. Elzear near Montreal, Canada. At the age of 20, when she entered the Sisters of Charity of Providence in Montreal, her carriage-maker father remarked, "I bring you my daughter, Esther, who wishes to dedicate herself to the religious life. She can read, write, figure accurately, sew, cook, spin and do all manner of housework. She can even do carpentering, handling a hammer and saw as well as her father. She can also plan for others and she succeeds in anything she undertakes. I assure you, Madam, she will make a good superior some day."
In 1856, Mother Joseph was chosen to lead a group of five missionaries to the Pacific Northwest Territories of the United States. There she was responsible for the completion of 11 hospitals, seven academies, five Indian schools, and two orphanages throughout an area that today encompasses Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho and Montana. An architect and artist, she was actually responsible for designing the buildings, supervising their construction, and fund raising. Each of her "begging tours" into mining camps lasted several months and raised between $2,000 and $5,000 toward the realization of her goal. A stickler for detail, Mother Joseph often inspected rafters and bounced on planks to ensure their support.
Mother Joseph died of a brain tumor in 1902, leaving a legacy of humanitarian service. She is recognized as one of the first architects in the Northwest.
The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/mother-joseph-statue
- CAPVC_110511_38.JPG: Helen Keller Statue
The Basics
Artist: Edward Hlavka
Materials: Bronze
Year: 2009
Location: Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitor Center
This statue of Helen Keller was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Alabama in 2009.
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was 19 months old, an illness (possibly scarlet fever or meningitis), left her deaf, blind and unable to speak. From her childhood teacher and life-long companion, Annie Sullivan, she learned to communicate by touch, Braille, and the use of a special typewriter; in 1890 a teacher from a Boston school for the deaf taught her to speak. She attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies and then entered Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904.
Settling outside Boston, Keller and Sullivan collaborated on Helen's autobiography, The Story of My Life. Soon, encouraged by Sullivan's husband, Keller embraced a variety of social causes, including woman suffrage. She lectured and wrote in support of these causes as well as to call attention to the plight of the physically handicapped. Following World War II, she and her secretary, Polly Thompson, traveled abroad to support the blind.
She died on June 1, 1968, in Westport, Connecticut; her ashes are interred at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
The Statue
The statue by Edward Hlavka depicts a moment made famous in the biographical play and movie The Miracle Worker. It shows Keller as a seven-year-old girl wearing a pinafore over her dress.
Details of the Helen Keller statue.
She stands at an ivy-entwined water pump with her right hand on the pump handle and her left beneath the spout to feel the flow of the water. Her expression of astonishment shows the moment when she and Annie Sullivan first communicated, by touch, the word "water."
On the front of the statue's self base, above the name "Helen Keller," is a relief image of Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, accompanied by explanatory text. On the proper left and right sides are, respectively, a statement about the significance of her college graduation and a quotation from Keller about Annie Sullivan’s importance to her life.
The pedestal is clad with panels of Alabama White Marble. On the front is a bronze plaque bearing another quotation: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." The inscriptions appear in both raised letters and Braille characters.
The Sculptor
Edward Hlavka, a native of South Dakota, began to create and exhibit sculpture while in grade school. Later, inspired by the works of Renaissance masters during travel in Italy, he attended the College of Art and Design in Minneapolis and continued his studies in workshops, classes, and apprenticeships. His work has received awards in national exhibitions. Among his sculptures are portraits of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and George Bush for the City of Presidents; and a monument representing the Oneida Indian Nation for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
The above from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/helen-keller-statue
- CAPVC_110511_41.JPG: Helen Keller
"The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched, they must be
felt with the heart." -- Helen Keller
Alabama
- CAPVC_110511_45.JPG: My green is located on
640 acres. It was built by Helen's
grandparents and named for the ivy
that covered its exterior.
- CAPVC_110616_01.JPG: Philo T. Farnsworth Statue
The Basics
Artist: James R. Avati
Materials: Bronze
Year: 1990
Location: Capitol Visitor Center
This statue of Philo T. Farnsworth was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Utah in 1990.
Philo T. Farnsworth was born on August 19, 1906, on Indian Creek in Beaver County, Utah. His parents expected him to become a concert violinist, but his interests drew him to experiments with electricity. At the age of 12, he built an electric motor and produced the first electric washing machine his family had ever owned.
Farnsworth is called "the father of television" for his invention of an early electronic television system, which he first visualized when he was in high school. He transmitted his first electronic television picture in 1927. Although he won an early patent for his image dissection tube, he lost later patent battles to RCA. He received some 160 patents during his career for many important inventions, which played roles in the development of radar, the infra-red night light, the electron microscope, the baby incubator, the gastroscope, and the astronomical telescope.
Farnsworth died on March 11, 1971, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Television receivers in production at that time carried approximately 100 of his patents.
The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/philo-t-farnsworth-statue
- CAPVC_111228_02.JPG: You can see the old foundation of the building
- CAPVC_111228_11.JPG: Mother Joseph Statue
The Basics
Artist: Felix W. de Weldon
Materials: Bronze
Year 1980
Location: Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitor Center
This statue of Mother Joseph was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Washington in 1980.
On April 16, 1823, Esther Pariseau was born in St. Elzear near Montreal, Canada. At the age of 20, when she entered the Sisters of Charity of Providence in Montreal, her carriage-maker father remarked, "I bring you my daughter, Esther, who wishes to dedicate herself to the religious life. She can read, write, figure accurately, sew, cook, spin and do all manner of housework. She can even do carpentering, handling a hammer and saw as well as her father. She can also plan for others and she succeeds in anything she undertakes. I assure you, Madam, she will make a good superior some day."
In 1856, Mother Joseph was chosen to lead a group of five missionaries to the Pacific Northwest Territories of the United States. There she was responsible for the completion of 11 hospitals, seven academies, five Indian schools, and two orphanages throughout an area that today encompasses Washington, northern Oregon, Idaho and Montana. An architect and artist, she was actually responsible for designing the buildings, supervising their construction, and fund raising. Each of her "begging tours" into mining camps lasted several months and raised between $2,000 and $5,000 toward the realization of her goal. A stickler for detail, Mother Joseph often inspected rafters and bounced on planks to ensure their support.
Mother Joseph died of a brain tumor in 1902, leaving a legacy of humanitarian service. She is recognized as one of the first architects in the Northwest.
The above was from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/mother-joseph-statue
- CAPVC_111228_46.JPG: Helen Keller Statue
The Basics
Artist: Edward Hlavka
Materials: Bronze
Year: 2009
Location: Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitor Center
This statue of Helen Keller was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Alabama in 2009.
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was 19 months old, an illness (possibly scarlet fever or meningitis), left her deaf, blind and unable to speak. From her childhood teacher and life-long companion, Annie Sullivan, she learned to communicate by touch, Braille, and the use of a special typewriter; in 1890 a teacher from a Boston school for the deaf taught her to speak. She attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies and then entered Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904.
Settling outside Boston, Keller and Sullivan collaborated on Helen's autobiography, The Story of My Life. Soon, encouraged by Sullivan's husband, Keller embraced a variety of social causes, including woman suffrage. She lectured and wrote in support of these causes as well as to call attention to the plight of the physically handicapped. Following World War II, she and her secretary, Polly Thompson, traveled abroad to support the blind.
She died on June 1, 1968, in Westport, Connecticut; her ashes are interred at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
The Statue
The statue by Edward Hlavka depicts a moment made famous in the biographical play and movie The Miracle Worker. It shows Keller as a seven-year-old girl wearing a pinafore over her dress.
Details of the Helen Keller statue.
She stands at an ivy-entwined water pump with her right hand on the pump handle and her left beneath the spout to feel the flow of the water. Her expression of astonishment shows the moment when she and Annie Sullivan first communicated, by touch, the word "water."
On the front of the statue's self base, above the name "Helen Keller," is a relief image of Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, accompanied by explanatory text. On the proper left and right sides are, respectively, a statement about the significance of her college graduation and a quotation from Keller about Annie Sullivan’s importance to her life.
The pedestal is clad with panels of Alabama White Marble. On the front is a bronze plaque bearing another quotation: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." The inscriptions appear in both raised letters and Braille characters.
The Sculptor
Edward Hlavka, a native of South Dakota, began to create and exhibit sculpture while in grade school. Later, inspired by the works of Renaissance masters during travel in Italy, he attended the College of Art and Design in Minneapolis and continued his studies in workshops, classes, and apprenticeships. His work has received awards in national exhibitions. Among his sculptures are portraits of Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and George Bush for the City of Presidents; and a monument representing the Oneida Indian Nation for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
The above from https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/helen-keller-statue
- CAPVC_111228_55.JPG: Ivy Green is located on 640 acres. It was built by Helen's grandparents and named for the ivy that covered its exterior.
Helen Keller
"The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched, they must be
felt with the heart." -- Helen Keller
Alabama
- AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
- Wikipedia Description: United States Capitol Visitor Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is an addition to the United States Capitol which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the US Congress. It is located below the East Front of the Capitol, between the Capitol and 1st Street East. The complex contains 580,000 square feet (54,000 m2) of space below ground on three floors. The overall project's budget was $621 million.
The CVC has space for use by the Congress, including multiple new meeting and conference rooms. On the House side, there is a large room which will most likely be used by a committee. The new Congressional Auditorium, a 450-seat theater, will be available for use by members of Congress or for either House of Congress should their respective chamber be unavailable.
The CVC officially opened on December 2, 2008. This date was selected to coincide with the 145th anniversary of placing Thomas Crawford's Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol building in 1863, signifying the completion of construction of its dome.
Design:
The CVC contains three under-ground levels: a balcony level entrance, the Emancipation Hall (second) level and a third restricted level for new Congressional offices and meeting rooms. The construction of the CVC represents the largest-ever expansion of the United States Capitol and more than doubles the footprint of the US Capitol building complex.
Construction:
Construction of the CVC is supervised by the Architect of the Capitol. That post was held Alan Hantman, FAIA until his term expired on February 4, 2007; the Architect of the Capitol position is currently vacant, and Deputy Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers, FAIA, is currently serving as the acting Architect.
The ceremonial ground breaking for the CVC took place on June 20, 2000. Although originally planned to be completed by January 2004, the final completion date (not including the Senate and House expansion space) was extended to December 2, 2008. The proposed cost was originally $71 million, but it has risen to $621 million. The CVC has caused controversy for being over budget and behind schedule. Much of this is blamed on the rising cost of fuel, post-9/11 security measures, and inclement weather. At a hearing on the CVC cost-overruns Representative Jack Kingston called it "a monument to government inefficiency, ineptitutde and excessiveness."
The first major construction contract, worth nearly $100 million, was awarded to Balfour Beatty (formerly Centex Construction), in the spring of 2002. This contract involved site demolition, slurry wall construction, excavation, construction of columns, installation of site utilities, construction of the concrete and structural steel, waterproofing, and construction of a new service tunnel. By July 2005, Balfour Beatty Construction completed all excavation and structural activities, and the roof deck covered the entire CVC structure.
Visitor Center:
The space is mainly designed for use as a holding zone for visitors waiting to take tours of the Capitol. The number of annual visitors to the Capitol has tripled from 1,000,000 in 1970 to nearly 3,000,000 as of recent times, and it has become difficult to deal with the congestion caused by such crowds. In the past, visitors were required to line up on the Capitol's east stairs, sometimes stretching all the way to 1st Street East. This wait could last hours and no protection was offered against inclement weather. Tickets were not timed and were on a first come, first served basis.
With the addition of the CVC, visitors now have a secure, handicap-accessible, and educational place to wait before their Capitol tours commence. Visitors are free to explore the CVC, which houses an exhibition hall, two gift shops, and a 530-seat food court. Visiting the CVC and the Capitol are free. Tickets for Capitol tours are also free and are available online for order ahead of time for the first time ever.
Emancipation Hall:
Emancipation Hall is the main hall of the CVC and measures in at 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2). It was originally designated the Great Hall, but this was changed to Emancipation Hall when a bill cosponsored by Congressmen Zach Wamp and Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. was passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush in January 2008. Some signage in the CVC still reads Great Hall rather than Emancipation Hall, due to the last-minute change in nomenclature. Emancipation Hall contains two large skylights, which each measure 30 feet (9.1 m) by 70 feet (21 m) and allow for a view of the Capitol dome never before seen. The skylights allow a significant amount of natural light into the hall and are surrounded by pools of water and seating on the roof deck.
The Hall displays the original plaster cast of the Statue of Freedom, the bronze statue that stands atop the Capitol dome. Since January 1993, the plaster cast has been on display in the basement rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, across Constitution Avenue from the Capitol.
CVC skylight looking up at the Capitol dome. Dust is present due to ongoing construction. Taken 2008-05-02.
The Hall is also a display space for 24 statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection. The complete collection is made up of two statues from each state. The statues are donated by their respective state to honor notable residents. In the past years, all 100 statues have been housed in the Capitol, many in Statuary Hall. This has led to overcrowding of statues and relocating some of them to Emancipation Hall has allowed for some space in the Capitol to be reclaimed. According to the Acting Architect of the Capitol Steven T. Ayers, more-recently added statues to the Capitol have been given preference for a move to Emancipation Hall.
Exhibition Hall:
The Exhibition Hall includes an 11-foot high tactile polyurethane model of the Capitol dome. The hall is dominated by a pair of curving 93-foot marble walls lined with artifacts and interactive touch-screen displays. Six scale models of the complete Capitol illustrate how the building expanded over time. Two alcoves off the main Exhibition Hall hold large flat screen televisions to allow viewers to watch live telecasts of the House and Senate floor proceedings. A third alcove located behind the tactile dome model on the main axis of the Capitol holds the Lincoln catafalque, which used to be displayed in the basement beheath the Rotunda.
Other Facilities:
Two theaters located above the Exhibition Hall continuously show a 13-minute video on the history of Congress and the Capitol Complex. Visitors enter the theaters at the Emancipation Hall (lower) level and exit at the Capitol Crypt (upper) level. The theaters will show the same film, but on a staggered schedule to allow a smooth flow of tourists into the Capitol.
Off of Emancipation Hall are two gift shops, one at the north end of the Hall and on at the south end. These replace the single gift shop previously located in the Capitol Crypt.
The CVC includes a 530-seat food court, which is expected to alleviate overcrowding in the cafeterias in the Congressional office buildings.
Congressional Space:
About 170,000 square feet (16,000 m2) has been reserved for use by Congress. Much of the space is for a new Congressional Auditorium. Most of the rest of the space will be made into committee meeting rooms.
Service Space:
A number of tunnels were constructed as part of the CVC project. The first is a 1,000 feet (300 m) long truck service tunnel, whose entrance is located north of Constitution Avenue near the underground Senate parking garage. Its goal is to alleviate traffic on the plaza and to enhance security by checking delivery and service trucks at a safe distance from the Capitol itself. A second tunnel was constructed to connect the CVC to the Library of Congress. Part of East Capitol Street was closed during construction and the tunnel was completed in the winter of 2005
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