Virginia State Capitol

The centrepiece of Capitol Square is one of the most architecturally significant buildings in America. Designed by Thomas Jefferson from Paris in 1785 and modelled on a Roman temple in Nîmes, it established the neoclassical style for American government architecture that has dominated ever since. The Capitol houses a famous life-sized marble statue of George Washington by Jean-Antoine Houdon — the only statue made from a live sitting with Washington himself — in the rotunda.

Free tours run throughout the day and cover both the historical chambers and the modern underground extension. The grounds of Capitol Square are pleasant: the state's Washington Monument stands at the centre, and the surrounding gardens include memorials to Virginia Civil Rights heroes and to Virginia's women. Open daily; the building itself closes at 5pm.

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Thomas Jefferson designed the Capitol from Paris in 1785, modelling it on the Maison Carrée in Nîmes — a Roman temple he described as "the most perfect model existing of what may be called Cubic architecture." It was the first government building in the New World to use the classical temple form, directly influencing the design of the U.S. Capitol and virtually every subsequent American government building. Jefferson never saw the finished building; he was still in France when it opened in 1788.

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