St. Paul, Minnesota
August 16, 2017
Minnesota’s capitol was designed by Case Gilbert and was built from 1896-1905 for $4.5 million. Exterior marble repairs in 2013-17 cost $310 million. It features the second largest self-supported marble dome in the world.
The Progress of the State (informally known as the Quadragia)
Two of the Six Virtues on the exterior of the capitol are pictured below. These represent beauty and wisdom.
The rotunda
Minnesota is the North Star State, recognized by this design in the center of the rotunda.
The following four murals were painted by Edward Simmons and constitute the Civilization of the Northwest. In the first, a young man (the American Spirit or Genius) leaves home, being held back by Timidity and encouraged by Hope and Wisdom.
In the next panel, the youth, still led by Wisdom and Hope, drives out Savagery, Cowardice, Sin and Stupidity.
In the third mural, the young man advances agriculture by lifting a stone containing crystals and gold and using it to break the soil.
In the final panel, the man is cloaked in wisdom and orders the four winds to carry Minnesota’s products of wheat, minerals, fine arts and knowledge to the corners of the earth.
House chamber
Panel behind the chair of the Speaker of the House
Senate chamber
Supreme Court chamber
The cafeteria in the Capitol was decorated to resemble a German Rathskeller. Because of anti-German sentiment during World War I, the decorations were painted over. 20 layers of paint have now been removed and the original motifs restored.
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