I love capitols — can’t get enough of their marble halls, gilded domes, dark wood paneling and hundreds of tiny desks (at least they always *look* tiny from the viewing gallery) with multicolored voting buttons. They capture a regal era removed from our own with a permanence found rarely in modern architecture.
While in DC at the beginning of January, my destination of choice was the new visitors’ center at the U.S. Capitol. On the way, I passed the inauguration grounds with stage building in progress, pictured on Tuesday. (Where did you spend your inauguration day? Share your stories in the comments.)
In sheer contrast to the classical American dome is that of the German Reichstag, whose glass dome by Sir Norman Foster was added to the building after reunification. The overarching theme of Germany’s new governmental architecture is transparency, with buildings and offices as visible as possible. From the visitors’ area of the dome, it is possible to look down into the plenary room below, as pictured here.
A visit to the Reichstag is fun and free — check all the details for making yours a smooth one in this previous post.
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Nice! We really enjoyed being part of this historic Obama Inauguration & watched it on the BBC “live” in our 15th century village in Spain which is our winter home.
When I visit in April I hope I can get my gang up early enough to see it without too many queues.
Wonderful viewpoint!
I have just added this to my “must do” list for my next trip to Germany. Thanks for the recommendation!
What a wonderful – and interesting architecture. Especially love the transparency. I love architecture overall, so this may be added to my wish list to go, which beginning to be very long now…. *giggles*
We absolutely loved Berlin when we went. It is an amazing city!
I spent Jan 20 in a classroom with 30 9th graders…very cool to see them witness this…
On a side note…I have started a wordpress so my name keeps showing up as logged in, but my blog is still at http://twokidsandamap.blogspot.com
I love architectural photos take from unusual angles. This is a beautiful shot. Thanks for sharing.
This time I didn’t read the post and went straight to the picture, I had to angle my head a bit and when it hit me, I rechecked the post. I was right! Love the shot!