California State Capitol

Jill's Journal: Is it really September already? I’m not quite sure that’s possible. Where does time go?

The girls and I took a fascinating tour today of the California State Capitol. Mostly completed by 1869, California’s gorgeous Neoclassical-inspired Capitol is based on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

There was enough action on the tour to hold the little ones’ attention, while our oldest was spellbound from start to finish. Our tour guide had her at “Minerva.” When Jason, the guide, pointed to the state seal in stained glass on the ceiling and mentioned that the Roman goddess Minerva is part of the seal, Erika immediately whispered to me that Rome’s Minerva is the same goddess as Greece’s Athena. Sure enough, that was the next sentence out of our guide’s mouth. How Erika knows that and retains that is beyond me. I can’t remember what we had for lunch yesterday.

Minerva is on the state seal because California was fast-tracked to statehood when gold was found and didn’t go through all the channels, probation, and growing pains other states did. Minerva, as the story goes, was born a full-grown woman and didn’t have to go through childhood, which is why California identifies with her. She appears all throughout the Capitol building. On the seal, Minerva is joined by a California Grizzly Bear (now extinct), a gold prospector, the term “Eureka” (Greek for “I Found It”), the Sacramento River, the Sierra Nevada mountains, and 31 stars representing California’s admission to the Union as the 31st state.

The rotunda of the Capitol is grand and elaborate. It was designed to impress and it succeeds mightily.

All the gold you see in the dome (i.e. the bead-like "frames")? That’s not paint. That’s real, actual, honest-to-goodness gold, all mined right here in Gold Country. They don’t call it the Golden State for nothing.

The girls really liked this statue on the first floor of the rotunda. In place since 1883 and entitled “Columbus’ Last Appeal to Queen Isabella,” the scene depicts Columbus holding a globe. Even though Columbus never came close to California, it is said California better embodies Columbus’ vision of wonders beyond the horizon than any other state.

Here are the girls at the doors to the Governor’s office. He was inside. They thought that was pretty neat.

Erika has been fascinated by the presidency since we went to Lincoln’s birthplace (in July, 2010) and after today, that has carried over into governorship as well. She thought it was so incredibly amazing to see the portrait of Ronald Reagan from his time as Governor of California (far left), knowing that he actually worked here in this very building and went on to the U.S. Presidency.

The lone odd portrait among all the stately ones is the one on the right of current Governor Jerry Brown.

This is the Assembly chamber. The portrait is of Abraham Lincoln and the green color scheme is based on the British House of Commons.

The desks date back to 1869, when government first moved into the Capitol. The 80 assemblymen still vote using the red or green buttons on the top right of the desks.

And the Senate chamber, presided over by a portrait of George Washington. Its red tones reference the British House of Lords. Here, the 40 senators vote by a simple “Aye” or “No.”

We hung out on the front steps of the Capitol for a bit after our tour and peoplewatched. Seeing the Capitol was really a worthwhile way to spend the afternoon. We’ve never been inside any other state capitols. Are they all this nice and the tours so interesting?