West Virginia State Capitol

gnagel

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I revisited the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston earlier this month. This building, like so many of the state capitols as of late, is undergoing a major renovation. Fortunately, there were enough areas within the capitol to make for a productive visit. I included one image from my last visit (9 years ago)--the last one in this set.

1- The fall colors were mostly underwhelming throughout my road trip. The colors in Charleston were the best of my trip.
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2- The chandelier doesn't look like much in this photograph, but that's mostly because of how massive the rotunda is! The chandelier is made of 10,080 pieces of Czechoslovakian crystal. It's 4,000 pounds and 8 feet in diameter. It's illuminated by 96 light bulbs and hangs on a 54 foot brass and bronze chain. It's suspended 180 feet from the floor.
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3- Senate chamber
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4- The West Virginia Supreme Court chamber was locked. I found the Chief of the Capitol Police in his office and asked him if I could access the chamber. He was very accommodating...even adjusting the lights to my satisfaction. The architect, Cass Gilbert, modeled the United States Supreme Court on the this courtroom.
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5- All the employees inside the Capitol were accommodating to my photography. While I was shooting this image of the corridor to the Senate chamber, the maintenance team asked if it would be OK if they quickly retrieved the trash from the various cans in the corridor. I told them it wasn't a problem as I would deal with that later in Photoshop.
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6- The same thing happened here. A group of four men were hauling large pieces of furniture up this staircase while I was composing the shot. They asked me if it would be OK to continue up the stairs or if they should wait for me to finish shooting!
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7- East Wing of the Capitol. That's a black bear, the state animal, at the end of the hallway.
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8- Inner dome from the rotunda floor. The dome rises 294 feet from the floor. That's 4 feet higher than the dome of the nation's capitol in Washington. Notice how tiny the chandelier looks here!
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9- I really like staircases. This staircase connects the various levels of the Senate area of the building.
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10- Entrance to the Senate chamber
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11- Another view of the dome
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12- I captured this photograph back in 2014
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Thanks for looking...
Glenn
 
As always you do an excellent job recoding the beauty of the building.
 
Wonderful set! I drive past every year on my trip from Lebanon, OH to Richmond, VA, and always tell myself, next year I'll take an extra day and stop to get pictures. I need more vacation time.
 
I grew up in WV and served as a Legislative intern for a week my senior year of high school. Those photos bring back some wonderful memories. Thanks!
 

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