Illinois State Capitol

The current Illinois State Capitol, completed in 1888, is a French Renaissance Revival building whose copper-sheathed dome dominates the Springfield skyline. The building is the sixth capitol to serve Illinois and is still in active use as the state's seat of government. Free guided tours of the interior run throughout the day when the legislature is not in session; the rotunda, the Senate and House chambers, and the governor's ceremonial office are included.

The grounds are well worth a slow walk — the building is ringed by monuments to Illinois political and military history, and the views of the city from the north terrace are good. The adjacent Illinois State Museum (separate admission) covers the natural and human history of Illinois from the Ice Age to the present.

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The Illinois State Capitol dome rises higher than the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. — intentionally so. When construction began in 1868, the architects specified a dome of 361 feet to exceed the federal building's 288 feet, a statement of Illinois's growing power and ambition in the post-Civil War era. The building took twenty years to complete and cost more than $4.5 million, which was considered a scandalous expense at the time. The Illinois Senate chamber is particularly fine, with its original stained glass and ornate plasterwork largely intact.