Makes Me Want a Hot Dog Real Bad

So, during our sojourn in Springfield, we visited the State Capitol (#6).

We drove by the Old State Capitol (#5) and snapped a picture. You can see Number Six in the background. Number Five, in addition to being the "Lincoln Capitol" (he's partially responsible for its existence and he did all his pre-Presidential politickin' here), this is also the site our current President, Barack Obama, announced both his candidacy and his running mate, Joe Biden, during the 2008 election season.

Number Six is a beautiful building. I sort of walked around with my jaw hanging open during most of our time there. Of course, we had to take the tour.

Here's a shot from the outside. See that fantastic Mansard roof on wing? This building is 361 ft. high, making it taller than the capitols in Washington DC and Austin. Notice the roofs and the dome are a silver color and the cornices are done in a slate blue.

The builders broke ground on this capitol on March 11, 1869. It took them 20 years and 4.5 million dollars to complete it. The plan is a Latin Cross, the wings pointing in the four cardinal directions.

There were so many statues, works of art, and interesting nooks and crannies in this building, one blog post couldn't hold them all. Here are the highlights:

The Dome has 9 thousand individual pieces of stained glass. The circular frieze below the dome depicts Famous Moments in US History, from Patrick Henry's speech protesting the Stamp Act in 1775 to the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. Below the frieze stand several bronze statues of former Illinois governors.

Yet another statue of the Little Giant, the second most popular god in Illinois mythology. This is a life size statue, all five and a half feet of it.

The Hall of Governors, in which hang portraits of all 41 of Illinois governors from Shadrach Bond to the incumbent Pat Quinn. Interesting note: Pat Quinn is completing the term of the former governor, Rod Blagojevich, who is serving 14 years in prison for mail fraud, bribery, and various other acts of miscreantism. The guy before him, George Ryan, is also in the slammer.

The Senate Floor.

The House Floor. For all you Elle Woods fans out there, much of Legally Blonde 2 was filmed on the Illinois State Capitol House Floor. They filmed all the interior scenes here and the exterior scenes in front of the Utah State Capitol.

Room 212. This was the Supreme Court chamber until 1908, when the justices finally got their own building. Now it functions as a Senate committee room. Like all the ceilings in the building, this is done in painted plaster and gold leaf. Boring.

The State Seal adorns pretty much every surface. Even the doorknobs. Got this one on a podium outside the Governor's office. He wasn't home at the time.

And here's your parting shot: a typical case of American Blind Justice. And whatever those things hanging down on either side are...