The Kansas State Capitol, known also as the Kansas Statehouse, is the building housing the executive

Governor of Kansas

The Governor of the State of Kansas is the head of state for the State of Kansas, United States. Under the Kansas Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the Kansas executive branch, of the government of Kansas. The Governor is the...

 and legislative

Kansas Legislature

The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, composed of 125 Representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 Senators...

 branches of government for the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

. It is located in the city of Topeka

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

 which has served as the capital of Kansas since it became a state in 1861. This is only the second building to serve as the Kansas Capitol.

A large mural in the east wing, painted by Kansan John Steuart Curry

John Steuart Curry

John Steuart Curry was an American painter whose career spanned from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting life in his home state, Kansas...

, is centered on an image of abolitionist John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

. This is believed to be the only instance of a person convicted of treason being featured in a state capitol.

The dome, at 304 ft (92.7 m), is taller than the 288 ft (87.8 m) United States Capitol dome

United States Capitol dome

The United States Capitol dome is the massive dome situated above the United States Capitol which reaches upwards to in height and in diameter. The dome was designed by Thomas U...

 although its diameter (50 ft (15.2 m)) is approximately half the national capitol (96 ft (29.3 m)). It is one of the few capitols in the United States that continues to offer tours that go to the top of the dome. The dome is, however, temporarily closed to visitors until 2012, as the Statehouse is undergoing extensive renovations. Visitors enter the dome by climbing 296 steps leading from the fifth floor to the top.

History

The land for Capitol Square was donated by Cyrus K. Holliday

Cyrus K. Holliday

Colonel Cyrus Kurtz Holliday was one of the founders of the township of Topeka, Kansas, in the mid 19th century; and was Adjutant General of Kansas during the American Civil War. The title Colonel, however, was honorary...

 via his Topeka Town Company in 1862. The master architect was Edward Townsend Mix with the wings designed by John G. Haskell

John G. Haskell

John Gideon Haskell is an architect who designed portions of the Kansas State Capitol and other public buildings in the state....

. Construction on the East Wing began in 1866, using "native" limestone from Geary County, Kansas. Construction began on the West Wing in 1879 using limestone from Cottonwood Falls, Kansas and in 1881, the legislature authorized and appropriated funds for the construction of a central building to link the two wings. Construction of this central building began in 1886, and the contract for dome construction was let in May, 1889. Almost 100 years later, during 1988, a design for the sculpture to stand atop the dome was finally approved. Ad Astra, a 22'-2" bronze sculpture weighing 4402 lbs, was installed atop the dome on October 10, 2002. The sculpture depicts a Kansa

Kaw (tribe)

The Kaw Nation are an American Indian people of the central Midwestern United States. The tribe known as Kaw have also been known as the "People of the South wind", "People of water", Kansa, Kaza, Kosa, and Kasa. Their tribal language is Kansa, classified as a Siouan language.The toponym "Kansas"...

 Native American with bow and arrow pointed at the North Star and was chosen from 27 entries to adorn the dome. The title Ad Astra is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 shortening of the state motto Ad Astra Per Aspera

Per Aspera Ad Astra

Per aspera ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning "through hardships to the stars" and is the motto of many organizations. It may also refer to:* Per Aspera Ad Astra , a 1981 Soviet science fiction film...

 To the stars with difficulty. The sculptor is Richard Bergen.

In 1898, Jerome Fedeli painted frescos near the top of the dome in the rotunda. Fedeli's work depicted bare-breasted classical women. However officials referred to the paintings as "Nude Telephone Girls" and had them painted-over. In the 1930s, John Steuart Curry

John Steuart Curry

John Steuart Curry was an American painter whose career spanned from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting life in his home state, Kansas...

 painted murals on the second floor including the building's most famous painting -- Tragic Prelude -- which depicts an oversize and raging John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

 wedged between flames and a tornado. Curry's work gained considerable notoriety for depicting unsavory aspects of Kansas history and he left them unsigned and did not complete a commission to paint murals in the rotunda. From 1976 to 1978, Lumen Martin Winter painted the murals in the rotunda.

In popular culture

The building was featured prominently on Kansas license plates issued from January 2001 until April 2007.

External links

• Kansas State Capitol - tours operated by the Kansas Historical Society