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High in the sky, about 50 feet above the roof, a crane is peeking out of the Cannon House Office Building. This tower crane is part of the AOC's renewal project to improve and preserve the building, making it more efficient, comfortable and safer, while retaining its historic grandeur.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death, AOC Curator Barbara Wolanin details the days he lay in state at the U.S. Capitol.

Many ornamental and functional cast iron parts of the U.S. Capitol Dome are so broken and badly damaged that they cannot be repaired on site. For the restoration, we traveled to the Salt Lake City foundry to see firsthand how the work to re-create these pieces is done.

From February's heavy snowfall to October's blood moon eclipse, take a look back at some popular moments of 2014 through the AOC's Instagram and Flickr images.

Searching for the Perfect U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

During beautiful summer days, AOC's Superintendent of the Capitol Grounds traveled around Chippewa National Forest in Cass Lake, Minnesota, to search for and select the perfect 2014 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Capitol Christmas Tree. The criteria includes height, shape and other characteristics.

This doing good story is of an AOC engineering technician who volunteers within his Davidsonville, Maryland, community. As a member of Riva Trace Baptist Church and volunteer for their community projects, including their food pantry, he has helped hundreds of families.

While the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) core mission is to preserve the buildings in our care, we realize that to be successful, preserving knowledge is just as important as preserving the buildings.

Every two years, citizens across the country elect or re-elect members of the House of Representatives, who then come to Washington, D.C., to move into their offices. The Architect of the Capitol moves thousands of boxes, supplies and unique items among the members' storerooms.

In a world where everyone carries a cell phone and some carry more than one, people still check the historic clocks on the Capitol campus for the time of day.

The Architect of the Capitol employees who commute to the United States Capitol campus via bike have formed a group to promote cycling to fellow AOC employees. Read their thoughts and advice on commuting to work via bicycle, including bike safety.

Addressing the stone pandemic across the Capitol campus takes a team of historic preservationists, structural engineers and stonemasons, among others.

The planting of a tree in honor of Anne Frank on the U.S. Capitol Grounds

Historic preservation tricks using "windows" and "columns" in the U.S. Capitol.

Whether you want inspiration and information for your garden, want to learn about the importance of pollinators or simply want to take a scenic nature walk steps from the U.S. Capitol — the U.S. Botanic Garden's National Garden in Washington, D.C., is a treasure for everyone.