U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., opens today

Democrat and Republican congressional leaders agreed upon at least one thing back in July: A new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the largest expansion of the nation’s Capitol building, would open today (Dec. 2), according to the visitor center’s website.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks during the opening ceremony at the new center that is anticipating about 3 million visitors per year.

The 580,000-square-foot center opens just in time for the crowds expected to descend on Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. Traditionally, the president-elect is sworn in on the west steps of the Capitol building.

The new visitor center features two movie theaters — with a 13-minute orientation film — as well as an exhibition hall to display historic documents. There’s even an 11-foot-high model of the famed dome.

CNN reports that the $621-million underground center took six years to build and is located below the Capitol’s east grounds. Tours of the 215-year-old building will begin and end at the new visitor center.

The center is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Inauguration Day). Tours are conducted from 8:50 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.

Admission is free, but tickets are required for tours. Click on the visitor center’s Book a Tour page to learn how to make a reservation.

— Mary Forgione, L.A. Times staff writer

[Photo: A model of the Capitol dome. Credit: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 10:54 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under East Coast, Washington D.C.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.