US Capital Rotunda

This week brought me to the Free Masons shinning model city Washington DC.
CVS is building a new store on the corner of 4th and Mass just a few blocks south of the capital.
The symbolic and physical heart of the United States Capitol is the Rotunda, an imposing circular room 96 feet in diameter and 180 feet in height. It is the principal circulation space in the Capitol, connecting the House and Senate sides, and is visited by thousands of people each day. The Rotunda is used for important ceremonial events as authorized by concurrent resolution, such as the lying in state of eminent citizens and the dedication of works of art. As it appears today, the Rotunda is the result of two distinct building campaigns. Dr. William Thornton, who won the competition for the design of the Capitol in 1793, conceived the idea of a central rotunda. Due to a shortage of funds and materials, sporadic construction phases, and the fire set by the British in 1814, the Rotunda was not begun until 1818. The Rotunda was completed under the direction of Charles Bulfinch by the time of the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. Conceived in the age of neoclassicism, the Rotunda was intended to recall the Pantheon, the ancient Roman temple.

For more visit http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/rotunda.cfm