Illinois State Capitol Building — Local services in Springfield

Continuing my quest to visit all fifty state capitols, Springfield is the 45th in the list with Missouri next week and then only Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii will remain.

The Illinois State Capitol follows similar design to many other state capitols, with wings with a central dome and rotunda in the French Renaissance / Italianate style. Construction started in 1868 and completed in 1888. It has four wings in a cross shape and interesting the dome is covered in zinc so that it does not weather or corrode like copper or other materials. It is the tallest domed capitol in the United States, even larger than the federal capitol in Washington DC.

This building is the SIXTH in the series of state capitols and is the third city to house the capitol of Illinois following Kaskaskia and Vandalia as earlier locations. The capitol was in another building here in in Springfield from 1837 until 1868.

Beautiful from all angles and available for tours (with security), there is a lot to see inside including a beautiful rotunda, lots of statues and friezes and more. Well worth the time to...

I went on a trip to Springfield to admire the Capitol building and many other sites around the area that show Illinois’s history. As I walked in with a few of my friends, we were in shock! The interior was absolutely gorgeous, and the decoration just left us in awe. We eventually got a tour around the building, and we got to look around the rotunda, the old Supreme Court, and go outside of the governor’s office. The experince was truly magical, and I will never forget stepping inside the House of Representatives and Senate rooms. I have recently learned more about Illinois history, and I am truly fascinated by the old structure and beauty the building has kept since the 1800’s. Our tour guide was very helpful and showed us all there is to know about the Capitol building. If you ever get the chance to, I highly suggest getting a nice tour around. It’s...

This review is for the building, and not the politics that (sometimes) happen within the building. If I rated the politics too, the stars would be...fewer. The building is beautiful, inside and out. By gazing on it from any angle, you would never guess Illinois is $163B in debt. It's free to enter, and there's little-to-no hassle getting through security. But, you're totally on your own when you get inside. There's no organized tour to take you through (unless you've come as part of some group) to explain what you're looking at, and where you can and cannot go. If you're a fan of the self-guided, go-till-someone-stops-me style of site-seeing, you should be pleased.

If you're in Springfield, and you've already done the Lincoln stuff and had a horseshoe, I would say do a walkthrough of...