St. Paul, MN: the capital tour, Part 3 - Thurs., July 12, 2018

Continued from Parts 1 & 2...

The Capitol had teased us enough. It was time to find out what Minnesota's building had to offer. At this point, we were at 5k (3.1 miles) on our walk. That would be exactly halfway, except we would also be adding the walking tour of the Capitol to our mileage.

We arrived inside the Capitol with 15 minutes to spare before the tour. That gave us time to take a few photos and shop in their little store. We found out that our tour would go outside to get up close and personal with The Quadriga, a unique feature on this Capitol that I have not seen on any of the other Capitol buildings I've been to.

Looking at the main staircase
through the arch on the side of it.

Beautifully restored ceilings

Looking up the main staircase made
from Greek and French marble

When we came inside the building from the searing 90-degree heat (and humidity), the marble benches felt so cool to sit on!

These benches cooled us down a good 10 degrees!

It's time to give you a bit of history about this Capitol. Starting in 1896, architect Cass Gilbert (then age 35) led the construction of the current Minnesota Capitol (the state's third). The Beaux-Arts architecture of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago inspired him to build the Capitol in the Renaissance-revival style. After nine years, and at a cost of $4.5 million dollars, the Minnesota state capitol opened. Cass Gilbert also designed the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

The rotunda has a beautiful view of the inner dome and upper floors of the Capitol. The outside height of the dome from the ground is 223'. From the rotunda to the inner dome is 142'. So it is 81' from the inner to the outer dome.

The design of the dome is modeled after The Basilica of Saint Peter at the Vatican, which was designed by Michelangelo 350 years ago. The outer layer is white marble from Georgia. Hidden inside is a supporting structure of brick and steel. Below that is the inner dome.

Controversy arose over the use of white marble from Georgia. Locals wanted to use granite quarried in Minnesota and argued they would lose stone-cutting and carving jobs if stone from out of state was used. Cass Gilbert insisted on Georgia white marble, saying darker-colored stones would make the Capitol look "gloomy and forbidding." As a compromise, the general contractor leased the Georgia quarry and shipped the rough-cut marble to St. Paul. Local craftsmen then did the cutting and carving on site. Gilbert also specified Minnesota-quarried granite for the ground-floor level, steps, and terraces, and sandstone and limestone for the foundation and interior walls to fully represent the various stones from the state.

The inner dome

Looking up to the third floor

Battle flags of Minnesota were on display. 

First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment
national color battle flag

Our tour started at noon. About 20 people followed our tour guide. Because I couldn't hear very well and didn't retain what I did hear, here is information on the Capitol from the Self-Guided Tour brochure:

"More than 20 types of stone are used in the halls, stairways, and chambers. Prominent among the Minnesota stones is limestone from Kasota and Mankato, which is used on the walls. The vaulted ceilings of the first- and third-floor corridors are decorated with hand-painted arabesques and designs of grains and fruits grown in Minnesota. During the original construction, the building was also wired with electricty and elevators. Even with the installation of electric lights, Gilbert utilized as much natural light as possible, which is evident in the many skylights used throughout the building.

"The murals and paintings--many covering entire wall spaces--represent allegories and historical events. Before the restoration work began, they had decades of discolored varnish, dust, grime, and overpainted areas, which hid most of the original, vivid colors..."

I remember our guide telling us they allowed smoking in the Capitol until 1970 which also contributed greatly to the discolored walls. They left one area up in a corner that showed before and after of the restoration work.

Dark area shows discoloration before restoration.

Old Northwest Territory plaque, circa 1838

Detail on the marble bench

Minnesota is "The North Star State"
("L'etoile du nord" in French)

Because my knee was bothering me, I asked about taking the elevator to the second floor. Our guide pointed me in the general direction. I looked and looked, but couldn't find it. I took the stairs up.

The Governor's Reception Room on the second floor has white oak woodwork and plaster of Paris symbols of Minnesota overlaid with gold-tinted metal leaf. At one time six paintings of Minnesota's involvement in the Civil War adorned the walls; however, two of the painting frames were empty. It seems they had to remove two of the paintings because they were politically inappropriate or historically inaccurate. Those two paintings, Father Hennepin Discovering the Falls of St. Anthony and The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux can now be found in a third-floor exhibit where you can learn more about them. Two new paintings will be chosen for the Governor's Reception Room to replace the two that were taken down.

The Second Minnesota at Mission Ridge, 
by Stephen A Douglas Volk
Governor's Reception Room (you can see
one of the blank frames on the right)

The Battle of Nashville, by Howard Pyle

From the second floor, we had a great view of the marble north star in the rotunda below.

Marble floor of the rotunda

Looking up through columns to the artwork above.

I finally found the elevators to go to the third floor. My mistake in trying to find them on the first floor was that you had to go through doors that looked like you would be going outside. Instead, those particular doors took you into the elevator.

View from inside the elevator.

The ceilings had gorgeous artwork. On this floor, there were paintings of the four seasons.

It's summer on the ceiling!

On the third floor, we were able to go into the viewing areas for the House and the Senate. 

Minnesota Senate Chambers

Art in the Senate representing the
headwaters of the Mississippi River

Next, we had the pleasure of going up 63 stairs, including a narrow circular staircase, to see The Quadriga. No matter what my knee felt like, I was going up there to see it! I took it very slow and let everyone pass me. I was not going to miss this beautiful work of art. You can only see the Quadriga up close on a guided tour.

The Quadriga (Latin for a four-horse chariot) is the gleaming, gold-leaf-covered sculpture at the base of the dome. It is made of sheets of gilded copper hammered around a steel frame. The sculpture was last re-gilded in 2016. The title of this work is Progress of the State. The male figure driving the chariot represents the state, two females portray agriculture and industry, and the four horses represent earth, fire, water, and wind.

The Quadriga as seen on our tour.

Looking up toward the top of the dome
from the Quadriga

Hey, I made it!

Looking down a stairwell from the 3rd floor

Some other people on our tour told us that you can tour the Cathedral of St. Paul. They went on about how cool it was to look out the upper windows at the view of St. Paul and the Capitol. That tour will have to wait for another trip. We still need to finish the walk and then we have a long drive to Steele, North Dakota, this afternoon.

The tour was over and we were on our own. Our tour guide told us where to find the exhibit with the two paintings that had been taken out of the Governor's Reception Room, so we went there while we were still on the third floor. When we finished looking at the exhibits there, we headed down to the first floor which had portraits of all of Minnesota's governors. Susan wanted to find Jesse Ventura's portrait. With a little help from a security guard, we finally found it. 

Jesse Ventura, 38th Governor

After our tour, we continued our Volksmarch. On the way to the Minnesota History Center, we passed another memorial. The walls symbolize barriers created by racial segregation and other efforts to impede the progress to achieving equality. The different-sized obelisks and tiles form a spiral starting at the smallest tile in the middle and move in a spiral to the tallest obelisk ascending over the wall. The spiral ascends above and through those walls. 

"Spiral for Justice," Roy Wilkins Memorial

It was around 2:00 p.m., and it had gotten much hotter since we had entered the capital building. Thankfully, our next stop was in the Minnesota History Center to fill our water bottles, use the facilities, and buy jigsaw puzzles in the gift shop.

We then continued on with the rest of the Volksmarch, passing the cathedral again. The neighborhood beyond the Cathedral is known as Cathedral Hill. This put us at 7k on our walk. Selby Avenue had some beautiful houses, businesses, and even a restaurant or two. 

Lots of hostas in bloom

Virginia Street Church

Mews - Businesses on the bottom
floor, apartments up above

Selby Avenue

Once back at the car, we changed out of our walking shoes and put on sandals or flip-flops for our hours-long drive to Steele, North Dakota. Susan wanted to drive, so she set up Garmin for our destination. Before we hit the open road, we had to get through Minneapolis. Holy cow! The freeway through the middle of Minneapolis is undergoing major renovation and rebuilding. What a mess! We had a big traffic jam for a few miles.

Even after we got out of Minneapolis and headed toward St. Cloud, we had stretches of roadway that weren't a freeway. Along the way, we had a rainstorm that lasted a few minutes. 

Once we finally got going, we loved the scenery alongside I-94. Rolling hills were punctuated with pretty lakes. We stopped at the Fuller Lake Rest Area which had a historical marker about the search for the headwaters of the Mississippi River. 

Info on the Great River Road
along the Mississippi River.

The search for the Mississippi River headwaters.

You know, we were in downtown St. Paul and we never once got a glimpse of the Mississippi River! That's crazy. 

We continued on our way, stopping only for dinner at Wendy's. By the time we got to Steele, North Dakota, the sun was setting. We made Steele our destination for the evening because the motel was much cheaper than motels in Bismarck, our destination for tomorrow's capital Volksmarch. The motel was one of the nicer ones on our trip and it was the cheapest at $45 for the night.  Not only that, but it was right next door to the world's largest Sandhill Crane. 

After we checked in, Susan and I walked over to the sandhill crane sculpture. However, the mosquitoes were going after Susan and she headed back to her room. For some reason, they weren't bothering me which is very unusual. 

Beautiful in the sunset!

Pretty awesome sculpture!

So ended our St. Paul Capitol Volksmarch day. Wow! 

Tomorrow, we will do the Bismarck, North Dakota, capital Volksmarch. We'll see how my knee does after today's long walk.