The Art Collection

Early settlers cut and saw trees and use the lumber to construct a building, possibly a warehouse for their supplies.

The Columbus Doors, also called the Rogers Doors or Rotunda Doors, stand imposingly at the main entrance to the U.S. Capitol Building, almost 17 feet high and weighing 20,000 pounds. Designed by American sculptor Randolph Rogers, each scene depicting the life of Christopher Columbus is finely modeled. The doors were installed in 1863 and moved to their present location in 1961 following the extension of the East Front of the Capitol.

This white marble "compass stone" in the floor of the Crypt marks the center of the U.S. Capitol and is the point where Washington, D.C., is divided into quadrants: northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest.

U.S. Senate Collection.

Corinthian columns are the most ornate, slender and sleek of the three Greek orders.

Some of the oldest and most famous interior features of the Capitol are located near the entrance to the Old Supreme Court Chamber. These six corncob columns, designed ca. 1808 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, are among the most unusual and significant architectural works of the early Republic.

When the Capitol's centennial was celebrated in 1893 it was decided to place a bronze tablet to mark the cornerstone's approximate location.

The Spaniard Hernando Cortez, conqueror of Mexico, enters the Aztec temple in 1519. He is welcomed by Emperor Montezuma II, who thought Cortez was a god. The calendar stone and idols are based on sketches that artist Constantino Brumidi made in Mexico City. (1520)

Two different types of covered wagons are shown, along with livestock and a family of settlers cooking a meal over an open fire.

Designed by renowned artist Allyn Cox (1896-1982), three corridors on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol's House wing are elaborately decorated with wall and ceiling murals that include historical scenes, portraits and maps related to the development and growth of the United States.