New U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Makes Trip Easier for Tourists
VISITORS SHORT
Rachel Kolokoff
Boston University Washington News Service
December 12, 2008
WASHINTON – For millions of annual visitors who have stood in line for hours waiting to tour the U.S. Capitol, convenience has finally arrived with the opening of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
The 580,000-square-foot underground addition, which took seven years and $621 million of taxpayer money to construct, opened in early December.
The idea of a visitor center dates back to the 1960s but was thrust forward in 1998 when a gunman breached Capitol security, opening fire and killing two Capitol police officers.
In 2002, construction began with a cost estimated at close to $360 million.
Tom Fontana, spokesman for the center, said the facility, built almost entirely underground on the east side of the Capitol, improves security by establishing a buffer zone between the Capitol and its visitors.
But the center, which is protected by the U.S. Capitol Police, does much more than shield the Capitol building, according to Mr. Fontana. At roughly three-quarters the size of the Capitol building itself, the center can hold up to 4,000 people and includes additional congressional office space, two theaters, exhibits, gift shops, a cafeteria and 26 restrooms.
Until the new center opened, tourists were forced to wait outside in hot and cold weather to go through security and were allowed to enter only in controlled numbers.
“People are now waiting minutes outside where it would have been hours before,” Fontana said.
People waiting for tours now can enjoy the center’s displays about the history of the Capitol and Congress in the new 16,500-square-foot exhibition space. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the dimly lit exhibition hall, in which photography is barred, has an 11-foot-tall model of the Capitol’s rotunda and dome, interactive, touch-screen kiosks with panoramic virtual tours of the Capitol and more.
Displayed artifacts on loan from the National Archives include the trowel used by President Washington to lay the Capitol cornerstone in 1793 and the American flag that was flying over the House on Sept. 11, 2001.
Also on display are the original 19-foot-tall, white plaster Statue of Freedom, cast in bronze in 1861, and more than 20 other statues from the National Statuary Hall Collection.
While waiting to tour the Capitol, visitors not admiring priceless artifacts and statues might watch a 13-minute orientation film on the history of Congress in one of two theaters accessible from Emancipation Hall.
But with the center’s advance reservation system in place, most visitors will not find themselves waiting for long, Fontana said. Using the center’s Web site, visitthecapitol.gov, visitors can book a tour with the Capitol Guide Service days or weeks in advance and plan accordingly. Tours led by congressional office staff members are still available and visitors can contact their member of Congress directly or through the Web site.
It costs nothing to enter or to reserve tickets for the theaters and tours. A limited number of tickets are available daily for people who have not made reservations.
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