Nebraska State Capitol — Attraction in Lincoln

As someone who is intimately familiar with this building I would say there is a lot to see and enjoy. It is not a place to go “party” or really hang out all that much. It is a nice quiet building with a nice little tour. You have the freedom to walk just about anywhere in the building. The main purpose is to conduct Government business firstly and secondly to act as a historical monument of education to the people that the government does business on behalf of. I would say if you’re looking for a massive tourist hub of activity that is not what this place is. But if you are looking for a cool building with lots of artwork and historical facts and history and to learn more about the Nebraska state government you found your place. I would say the most under utilized part of the building is the outside 2nd floor balcony. It’s a beautiful 360 view of the surrounding downtown area. It is obviously not as high up as the 14th floor view but it’s a beautiful open terrace like area to enjoy both the building and outside. The 2nd Most under utilized section would be the 4 gardens on the interior. Each garden section has a beautiful different colored water fountain, and benches. These are designed to allow a breeze to blow down into them most of the time and standing close to the fountain is usually a cooler temp as the moving water acts like a swamp cooler. The wonderfully black and white checkered pathways add a nostalgic tinge of beauty to walking in the space. These are good places to just sit with your thoughts, be alone, or otherwise find some peace for a bit. The only reason I don’t give this place 5 stars is because it does feel like there are amenities missing in comparison to other state capitols. The information desk on the 1st floor isn’t always staffed and if you don’t come in the main front entrance it isn’t obvious where the tourist office is. And the cafeteria is nothing to write home about. But the newly opened gift shop is wonderful. Also it is a great substitute if you are visiting but the city center tourist office is closed the capitol staff have some great recommendations and advice...

They don't honor their posted hours. We got there admittedly right before 5:00, but when we walked in the doors at 4:54, I expected to at least have a quick look around the main floor. As soon as we got in the door, however, a security guard immediately came over, said the Capitol was closed and told us we had to leave. When I said I just wanted to take a quick look since it wasn't 5:00 yet, she held out her arms like she needed to block me from trying to get past and said "No, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." At this point, she looked ready to remove me by force, so we left. I've never disobeyed posted signs in a Capitol, and I consider myself a strict rule follower, so being treated like a criminal for wanting to stay somewhere until the posted closing time seems a bit ridiculous.

On top of this bad experience, the grounds were basically nonexistent. It was just a big lawn area, no memorials or anything like that. I can't speak to the interior other than the hall we entered at, but it seemed very dungeon-like, with no artwork or historical items or anything like that. These could have been in a different area, though.

I would not recommend stopping here. I would recommend some customer service training for...

Another capitol building, another stamp! We made a stop here during our return road trip. We made our way up to the observation floor and there were a couple of doors leading outside that were open (inspections were being done and some construction/repairs so some areas were inaccessible). There are some nice views and so far this is the only state capitol building we visited that allowed visitors to step outside (North Dakota use to but some unruly teens caused that practice to end). This building had a chain link fence type of cover over the gaps on the outside which is probably why they could allow folks to go out and enjoy the view. The first floor allows you to make a bit of a circuit (because of the construction we couldn't actually do a full circuit so back tracked just a bit). There's plenty to see, even a bashful bust that hides behind a newspaper! 😁 He does have a face, I just had never seen a bust holding a paper so just had to take a photo (in a few years kids probably will need to ask what he's holding...