One of the most recognizable landmarks in the Washington DC, United States Capitol is the most culturally and historically important building in the United States. Designed by a physician with no formal architectural training, building is in Thomas Jeferson’s words “simple, noble, beautiful, excellently distributed and moderate in size”.
The building is recognizable by its characteristic dome modeled after a dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican by Michelangelo. Atop the massive dome is a bronze Statue of Freedom, an allegorical female figure. In one hand she holds the hilt of a sheathed sword and laurel wreath of victory in the other. She wears a military helmet adorned with stars, an eagle's head and crest of feathers. All that suggests that she is ready to protect the freedom of the nation.
The Inauguration of the United States presidents take place on the steps of the Capitol. Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be sworn in there in 1801. In 2021, days before Joe Biden’s inauguration United States Capitol building was attacked by a mob of supporters of then–U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup.
