Kentucky State Capitol — Attraction in Frankfort

Entertaining, educational guided tours of this magnificent building are offered.

My tour began in the rotunda where statues of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Henry Clay, and a couple of other people are located. My tour guide (Her name was either Kate or Katie.) provided information about each person represented by a statue in the rotunda.

I enjoyed seeing statues of U.S. President Lincoln, Confederacy President Davis, and "The Great Compromiser" Clay all together.

My guide also pointed out artwork and some details about the building's construction. The rotunda and dome are impressive.

The tour included the upstairs rooms where the House of Representatives meets, the Senate meets, and the Supreme Court meets. She also pointed out the governor's office on the first floor near the rotunda.

The huge dome, columns, a wall with a display featuring small designs representing each of the 120 counties, paintings of various prominent public officials and others, etc., made it a memorable tour.

The tour is free. I took the 11:00 a.m. tour on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, and I think it lasted about an hour. I'm not sure what the size limit is for tours, but I was fortunate in being the only one there for the 11 a.m. tour, so I got a one-on-one tour. My tour guide patiently answered my numerous questions and provided much information.

We took the stairs up and down the various levels, but she offered the option of taking the elevator.

I highly recommend persons who live or visit Frankfort during weekday business hours seek to take this tour. I walked to the capitol from downtown Frankfort, but Frankfort's city bus service has a stop near the capitol building, with rides only costing 25 cents. The city bus service runs from early morning to late afternoon Monday-Friday except for holidays. A free trolley that runs certain seasons and hours has a stop near the capitol building, too.

Before or after the tour, please seek to take time to enjoy viewing the floral clock near the capitol building. The Capitol Annex building which houses many offices and has a cafeteria (open 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. the day I was there according to a sign posted) and snack machines in the basement is nearby behind the capitol building. The governor's mansion is also nearby.

You do need to present a photo identification and go through security screening before entering...

The Capitol Rotunda in the Kentucky State Capitol is undeniably beautiful. With its soaring dome, polished marble, and balanced classical symmetry, the space feels like a temple to civic memory. Statues ring the chamber, chosen to reflect those considered vital to Kentucky’s legacy.

But symbolism here runs deeper than architecture.

The statue of Jefferson Davis—the Confederate president—was removed in 2020, a move long overdue in the eyes of many. Yet just across the chamber stands Henry Clay, still exalted as the “Great Compromiser.” What’s often omitted from plaques and tours is that Clay held generations of people in bondage. He fathered children with an enslaved woman, and when his white wife discovered the relationship, he had the woman and her children sold deeper into the South. That’s not compromise. That’s cruelty. And to remove one man while honoring another of similar character feels less like progress and more like selective morality.

Yet standing beneath the dome, at the feet of Abraham Lincoln—the man who preserved the Union at the cost of his own life—there’s still something profoundly stirring. It reminds us of Kentucky’s dual identity: a slaveholding state that stayed with the Union. A place sometimes seen as America’s linchpin, and at other times, its moral conscience. The contradiction lives in the marble.

History isn’t clean. The Rotunda makes that clear. And maybe...

Let me start with a warning: this building will be completely closed in the near future for extensive repairs that could last years. Apparently, the building's electrical and plumbing all date to 1910 and are in serious need of updating. I enjoyed visiting and taking the one-hour tour, but it does not stand out compared to other state capitols that my wife and I have visited. Other than numerous portraits and statues, there is precious little art. Standing in the center concourse, looking about me, and seeing nothing but heavy, gray, marble walls, ceilings, and columns, I felt mostly oppressed rather than uplifted. The tour highlights were the governor's reception room with its faux marble and view of Frankfort, and the Supreme Court chambers paneled in...