us capitol tour video

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The U.S. Capitol, a virtual field trip

Visit Emancipation Hall , the Crypt , the Rotunda , and National Statuary Hall in the video tour of the U.S. Capitol , above. This Architect of the Capitol video was released in April 2020 as a virtual field trip for all ages.

The tour features these rooms, as well as statues and artworks of notable people in American history, including Helen Adams Keller , Alexander Hamilton , King Kamehameha I , Martin Luther King, Jr. , Rosa Parks , Chief Standing Bear , and George Washington .

Explore more family resources and AOC.gov virtual exhibits , including elementary , middle , and high school resources .

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is rooted in a tradition of unique craftsmanship and ingenuity. Tracing its beginnings to the laying of the U.S. Capitol cornerstone in 1793 , the AOC is responsible for the operations and care of more than 18.4 million square feet of facilities, 570 acres of grounds and thousands of works of art. The Capitol campus is home to 30,000 daily occupants and hosts more than 3 million visitors annually.

Today, there are more than 2,000 AOC employees serving around the clock in diverse roles to maintain and preserve the buildings and grounds. Iconic landmarks under our care include the U.S. Capitol, Capitol Grounds, Capitol Visitor Center, House office buildings, Library of Congress, Senate office buildings, Supreme Court buildings and U.S. Botanic Garden.

Plus, watch more architecture , civics , and history videos : • A Tour of the White House’s West Wing in Sign Language •  Marian Anderson’s ‘defiant performance’ at the Lincoln Memorial •  Notable Women, an AR app that adds 100 historic American women to U.S. currency •  Château de Versailles, before and after the Revolution •  The amazing secret architecture of Oxford University Museum of Natural History

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today .

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C‑SPAN's original series looks into the history, art, and architecture that has enriched the United States Capitol.

• Series:   Part 1   -   Part 2   -   Part 3
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The Capitol History Project special series looks into the history, art and architecture of the United States Capitol. Through interviews, tours, and unprecedented access into the building's public and private spaces, C-SPAN presents a groundbreaking look inside the building that both houses and symbolizes American democratic government here and around the world.

The Capitol

• The White House
• The Supreme Court

Featured Video

The history, art, and architecture of the U.S. Capitol from its opening in 1800 to the present are presented in a special 107-minute version of The Capitol.

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Inside the Capitol Visitors Center

After years of delays and millions of dollars spent, the brand-new Capitol Visitors Center opens in December

Anika Gupta

The new Capitol Visitor Center opens December 2, after an eight-year delay and a cost overrun of hundreds of millions. At 580,000 square feet, the Visitor Center is the largest addition to the Capitol in its 215-year history.

When builders broke ground for the project in June 2000, they planned to lay the final stone in late 2005. But after September 11, 2001, legislators demanded greater security measures in the Visitor Center. The estimated cost rose from $265 million to $621 million.

Now that the Visitor Center is finally open, what will visitors get?

For starters, they'll enter from the East side—the side opposite from the National Mall—and take a set of stairs into the building's underground main chamber, Emancipation Hall, which is nearly three times the size of the Capitol Rotunda. Emancipation Hall, named in honor of the enslaved laborers who helped build the original Capitol, stretches nearly 20,000 square feet underground. Statues from the National Statuary Hall collection decorate the perimeter—luminaries include Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television, and King Kamehameha of Hawaii, whose gold-caped statue towers over the others.

Visitors may watch a new orientation video, "E Pluribus Unum," named for the motto found on the Seal of the United States meaning "out of many, one." The curious can get additional information about the Capitol along the room's far walls. The hungry can grab a bite at a new 550-seat restaurant, catered by the same company behind the House and Senate cafeterias in the Capitol. Sightseers can loiter in museum galleries dedicated to American and Congressional history. Each "historical alcove" spans 35-50 years, and features videos and text from major events and how Congress shaped them. As the only museum dedicated to the history of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the exhibitions highlight the impact of Congressional action on our history.

Two separate viewing galleries stream videos of the Senate and the House in action, and interactive "Jeopardy"-style quizzes let visitors test their legislative know-how against a friend's.

One of the main draws is the "touchable Dome," an 11-foot polyurethane model of the Capitol, built as a replica on a 20:1 scale. Visitors can run their hands over the balconies, windows and doors, and take a peek at miniature versions of the frescos on the inside of the dome.

"We wanted to create a more complete experience," says Terrie Rouse, CEO for Visitor Services at the Visitor Center. "We have masses of people coming in of multiple ages and they all want to be informed."

For those who took the Capitol tour in years past, the experience usually began with a hike up Capitol Hill and a long wait in line. Guides took visitors into the main Rotunda, into the galleries where the House and Senate convene, and then released them to their own devices in the building's crypt. The entire tour rarely lasted more than an hour, and there was no museum to provide greater context to the experience. When winter weather turned nasty, visitors waited outside. When the summer heat and humidity was unbearable, they waited outside. Once inside, there were no restaurants, and tourists had to jockey to use one of the Capitol's five public bathrooms. The Capitol could only accommodate 1500 people at a time, but during the spring cherry blossom season, interest often peaked at 4000.

Compared to that, the new Visitor Center is an expansive, if expensive, haven.

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Anika Gupta | | READ MORE

Anika Gupta’s writing has appeared in India and the United States, including in Business Today magazine, where she served as its first digital content editor, the Hindustan Times newspaper and Smithsonian magazine. Currently, she is a Master's student at MIT, where she studies user-generated content and mainstream media culture. She's also a science writer, media blogger, and essayist.

Famous comedian Brian Regan coming to Wheeling

Stand up comedian Brian Regan is bringing his standup tour to Wheeling.

Regan will be performing at the Capitol Theatre on Tuesday October 15.

Regan can be seen on the Netflix show Loudermilk , along with his comedy specials Standup and Away! with Brian Regan and Brian Regan: On the Rocks . Regan was also on an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld on Netflix.

Pre-Sale for tickets begin on Thursday, April 11th, 10am-10pm using the code CAPITOL. Tickets for the public go on sale Friday April 12th, 10am.

Get tickets for the event here.

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