Kansas – Kansas State Capitol (May 28, 2019)

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We were able to visit the Kansas State Capitol and finally got to make Kansas green on our map. (Yahoo). Getting to visit a Presidential library and seeing the Capitol was nice.

The Kansas State Capitol just finished a major restoration so everything was refreshed and look nice. Originally it was completed in 1903 and the Capitol is 17 feet higher than the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Entrance
The back of the Capitol.
Visitor Center entry which is down on the basement back side of the Capitol.

Ad Astra. The bronze statue of the Kansa warrior, Ad Astra, was placed on top of the dome in 2002. Sculpted by Kansas artist Richard Bergen, it is 22 feet and 2 inches tall and weighs 4,420 pounds. The warrior faces toward the North Star, a symbol of finding one’s way. The statue is named for the state motto: Ad astra per aspera, “To the stars through difficulties.”
Entry through the Visitor Center. The Stones are so large and are part of the foundation.

We were able to see the four allegorical Dome Murals from the 5th Floor. These murals were painted in 1902.

North panel – Plenty, Labor, Agriculture
West panel – Peace in the middle with Science on the left and Art on the right
East panel – Knowledge, Temperance on the left, Religion on the right
South panel – Power Woman with a sword in her hand and a Spanish-American War Soldier on the left and a Civil War Union soldier on the right.

In addition to these murals, we came across a really interesting view. Depending on whether you were looking down from the North, South, East or West balcony on the 5th Floor, you would see the direction based on where you stood.

Looking down you are facing East.
Looking down you are facing North

Facing west

So you wonder how they did it. Finally you were able to see the below from the second floor. Position was everything.


The next thing we did was do the Dome Tour – where you walk all the way up to the Ad Astra, the statue at the top of the dome. You wait in an area on the 5th floor for the tour to begin. This spectacular tour is breathtaking—literally—with 296 steps and no elevator. Participants who reach the cupola earn bragging rights. We did it easily and were the only two on the tour at the time.

Looking at all the stairs we will be climbing. See the spiral staircase at the top.
A view of the inside dome.
Looking down through the dome opening.
Close up of the spiral stairs we will be climbing.
Closer view of the spiral stairs
Reached the Top and this was taken from the fenced in area at the top.
The arrow points to where we climbed up to. Walked all around that fence to see the city. Yahoo. We have bragging rights!
Brown v. Board of Education Mural by Michael Young of Kansas City. Created in 2018 to depict the legacy of the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme court desegregation case which happened in Topeka.
Amelia Mary Earhart
1897-1937 (?)
Aviation Pioneer
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1890-1969
Soldier and U.S. President
Typical Kansas Symbols – A Hereford Bull, A Wheat Field feeding steers and hogs. A Grain elevator. Doves in Osage. Orange trees, fields of corn and grain
The industry of a Kansas Oil Field is Depicted by an oil rig which demonstrates the varied resources present in the State of Kansas.
Tragic Prelude painted by John Curry: In John Brown’s outstretched left hand is the word of God, in his right a Beecher’s Bible. Beside him facing each other are contending free soil and proslavery forces.
A Plainsman Buffalo Hunter Stands Before the buffalo he has slain. The background: thundering herds of buffalo pursued by Indians. A glading sun lights the scene.
Th Year is 1541. Francisco Vazques De Coronado. The Spanish Explorer and Padre Padilla, the Franciscan Missionary. Look out across vast expanse of the Kingdom of Quivira.
This mural has a great wave transcending to your left.
The flow in this mural is beautiful

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