Our day in Bismarck began with a tour of the capitol building. It is known as the Tower on the prairie...for good reason! It is one of four State capitols without a dome. The powers that be, in the 30's when this was designed and built, felt it made more sense to have usable office space in lieu of a dome, and knew that domed buildings are more expensive. The building dominates the skyline.
Upon entering the building, which pre-911 was through one of two massive doorways, one comes face to face with the ND seal mounted on a black marble surface surrounded by brass columns.
The solid brass doors of the elevators, which are now operated by sophisticated iPad panels, have detailed images depicting the settlement of Nebraska.
I liked to see current art pieces reflecting the heritage of the past.
There were a few displays of artwork created on paper of the musical notation of an Indian flute song. This one is the "Coyote Song"
The Governor's gallery had many beautiful exhibits of Indian pieces. I was impressed with the artful displays.
Beautiful Art Deco doors for administrative offices
Administrative offices on the main floor are paneled in bookend chestnut
The tall chandeliers on the main floor represent heads of wheat
The House and Senate are being renovated so we could not visit them, but I found pictures on the Internet
We did get to visit the Supreme Court in a newer addition to the building from the '60s
There is a viewing platform on the 18th floor. You can see sweeping views all around the building. Sadly, there is so much smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires that we couldn't see far.
I was amused by this photo, found on the observation floor, showing 8,962 snow angels on the lawn, setting a Guinness record in 1977.
Just across the street form the Capitol building is the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum. I was very impressed with the amazing, artful displays. The museum has four different large galleries that depict the land, the heritage of the people, geologic life and displays of yesterday and today.
"Dakota" is an extremely rare fossilized dinosaur mummy in that it shows skin and a wound probably indicating how the prehistoric animal died.
There were several attractive displays of phots printed on metal
having accompanying audio presentations
Our day ended with a river cruise on the Missouri. You can see the depth of the water on the pilot's display. At this point the river is 11.3 feet deep
There are many downed trees along the side of the river. Ambitious beavers apparently think they can dam the river!
I have seen the building but never been inside:)
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