As you are walking up Lincoln Mall on your way to the Capitol building, you will probably wonder where all the people are. Government buildings, apartments and local businesses make up the average scenery as you approach.
The building does not attract a ton of tourists and chaos, but it does stand four hundred feet tall above the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. After becoming a state in 1867, the building has come a long way from being a two-story building that was constructed poorly and eventually deteriorated.
Their third Capitol building, built in 1932 and only cost a little under ten million dollars, consists of fifteen stories. Interestingly enough it’s structure is very different from the other forty-nine Capitols. It resembles an office tower, unlike the usual iconic state dome. The New York architect was chosen through a nationwide competition.
In addition, specific people were chosen for design, mosaic and tiling and even someone for symbolic meaning. The building is supposed to resemble its people and their history. On the outside is a statue of Abe Lincoln Standing looking down, said to be resembling him looking down on the burdens and problems of the Great War. He stands in front of the Gettysburg Address.
Another important statue at the top of the Capitol is “the sower.” The sower is the traditional role that someone had to hand plant farm fields. This statue shows the importance of the agricultural life that Nebraskans based their state on, and the role this industry continues to play.
The interior is where the building’s true beauty shines through. Through marble features, columns and floors and carefully painted murals, the history and society of Native Americans and pioneers in Nebraska are depicted.
Even though it is not a traditional dome building, one place of specific importance is the rotunda. This area consists of a mosaic floor painting depicting water, fire, air and soil, showing the history of Nebraska. Interestingly enough, there are also eight figures representing important virtues to Nebraskans: temperance, courage, justice, wisdom, magnanimity, faith, hope and charity.
Also in the rotunda are three interesting murals representing different occupations showing their importance to Nebraska’s society.
One of the most interesting places to visit in the Capitol building though is the Memorial Chamber. It is located on the 14th floor, also where the observation deck is where you can walk out into a fenced in area and look over the city of Lincoln. The Memorial Chamber is an eight-sided room dedicated to different representations of outstanding behavior in both human interaction and public service.
There are eight murals depicting the courage of famine, ideal of international law, the perils of fire, the idea of freedom, the scourge of poverty, the idea of self-determination, the scourge of plague and the ideal of universal peace.
Also in the Memorial Chamber is the use black marble from Vermont, Italy and Belgium. Keeping with the theme and honoring of Abe Lincoln, a quote from one of his speeches is underneath the murals.
Besides having the only unicameral and non-partisan legislative body in the United States, much of the detail and work put into the display of Nebraska’s Capitol makes it unique and a place to visit that you can explore for hours.
