Minnesota State Capitol

Location

Phone: 651-296-2881
Email: statecapitol@mnhs.org
Website: www.mnhs.org/places/sites/msc
Admission: Hourly tours are free.
Hours: Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.
Guided tours are offered Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday, 1, 2 or 3 p.m.
Closed holidays except President's Day and July 4th.

On January 2, 1905, thousands of Minnesotans streamed through the richly decorated halls and chambers of their new state Capitol for the first time. The product of nearly 12 years of planning and construction, the Capitol was immediately hailed throughout the country as one of America's grandest and most beautiful public buildings, a reputation that has endured for a hundred years. The Capitol has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972, and part of the Minnesota Historical Society's historic site program since 1969. The Minnesota Historical Society is responsible for the Capitol's furnishings and artwork, and it oversees preservation work, leads tours of the building, and provides special events and educational programs.

Architect Cass Gilbert's design is dominated by its extraordinary dome, with its conscious echoes of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the most famous domed building in the world -- the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome, designed by Michelangelo more than 350 years earlier. The Minnesota dome is smaller, but like St. Peter's it has stone ribs, deeply pierced windows on its surface, and a drum with pairs of columns separated by window openings. An inner dome of brick and steel supports the exterior marble of Minnesota's dome, and below that is a painted plaster dome, which is what one sees inside the building looking up from the rotunda.

As in most public buildings at the turn of the 20th century, sculpture is an essential component of the Capitol design. At the base of the dome is the gleaming gold sculpture officially known as the Progress of the State, but usually referred to as the "Quadriga." Designed by Daniel Chester French and Edward C. Potter, the four-horse chariot and figures are made of sheets of gilded copper hammered around a steel frame. Below the Quadriga are six colossal figures representing "the Virtues," white marble replicas carved in 1975-79 which replace the deteriorating originals designed by French. Twelve stone eagles stand guard around the dome, and the exterior is enlivened by classical wreaths, plaques, and a rich variety of carvings.

The Capitol's interior -- with its richly colored stone, decorative metalwork, uplifting inscriptions and painted surfaces -- is one of the grandest monuments of the "American Renaissance," that era of classical elegance at the turn of the 20th century. Artists whose works appear in the Capitol -- among them Kenyon Cox, Edwin Blashfield, Frank D. Millet, Howard Pyle and John La Farge -- may be unfamiliar names to most people today, but in their day they were among the country's most celebrated painters.

There is metered parking on the street an in nearby lots at 12 minutes for 25 cents (which comes to $1.25 per hour). Bring quarters!!

Additional parking information can be found at http://www.admin.state.mn.us/pmd/4-2_public_parking.htm

Metro Transit route 3 goes right there, but many other routes come into downtown Saint Paul.

Directions

The Capitol complex is to the north of I-94 just minutes from downtown St. Paul. It is accessible from the east and west on I-94, and from the north and south on I-35E.

I-94 eastbound: Exit at Marion Street. Turn left. Go to Aurora Avenue and turn right. Go one block and enter Parking Lot AA. Walk one block east to the State Capitol.

I-94 westbound: Exit at Marion Street. Turn right. Go to Aurora Avenue and turn right. Go one block and enter Parking Lot AA. Walk one block east to the State Capitol.

I-35E northbound: Exit at Kellogg Boulevard. Turn left. Go to John Ireland Boulevard and turn right. Metered parking spaces line both sides of the boulevard. The Capitol is approximately one block to the northeast.

I-35E southbound: Exit at University Avenue. Turn right. Go to Rice Street and turn left. Go one block, turn right and enter Parking Lot AA. Walk one block east to the State Capitol.