what is on top of us capitol building
The Statue of Freedom
title: United States Capitol text: shell suspended from the supporting ribs, which also support the visible exterior structure and the tholos that supports The "Statue of Freedom", a colossal statue that was raised to the top of the dome in 1863. The weight of the cast iron for the dome has been published as . When the Capitol's new dome was finally completed, its massive visual weight, in turn, overpowered the proportions of the columns of the East Portico, built in 1828. The East Front of the Capitol building was rebuilt in 1904, following a design of the architects Carrère and Hastings, who also designed title: United States Capitol dome text: United States Capitol dome The United States Capitol dome is the dome situated above the United States Capitol which reaches upwards to in height and in diameter. The dome was designed by Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol, and constructed between 1855 and 1866 at a cost of $1,047,291 (equivalent to $ in ). The dome is not stone, but rather cast iron carefully painted to appear to be made of the same stone as the main capitol building. It is actually two domes, one inside the other, and the total weight is . The iron for title: United States Capitol dome text: structure, a stone, brick, and wooden interior dome to rise above the rotunda floor (matching the dimensions of the Pantheon), and a wooden exterior dome covered in copper that would rise to . Set at the crown of the exterior dome was an oculus wide, which provided illumination to the rotunda floor below. Bulfinch completed the project in 1823. For more than two decades, the green copper dome of the Capitol greeted visitors to the nation's capitol, until the 1850s. Due to the growth of the United States and the expansion and addition of new states, the size of the title: United States Capitol rotunda text: United States Capitol rotunda The United States Capitol rotunda is the central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., built 1818–1824. It is located below the Capitol dome, built 1857–1866; the later construction also extended the height of the rotunda walls. It is the tallest part of the Capitol and has been described as its "symbolic and physical heart." The rotunda is connected by corridors leading south to the House of Representatives and north to the Senate chambers. To the immediate south is the semi-circular National Statuary Hall, which was the House of Representatives chamber until 1857. To title: Statue of Freedom text: Statue of Freedom The Statue of Freedom, also known as Armed Freedom or simply Freedom, is a bronze statue designed by Thomas Crawford (1814–1857) that, since 1863, has crowned the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Originally named Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace, a U.S. government publication now states that the statue "is officially known as the "Statue of Freedom"". The statue depicts a female figure bearing a military helmet and holding a sheathed sword in her right hand and a laurel wreath and shield in her left. The "Statue of Freedom" is a colossal bronze