Illinois State Capitol

The building was SO beautiful. The moldings and architectural details are breathtaking! The only negative was that the only PUBLIC restroom was on the first floor. Overall I loved it

This is a great place to bring kids to see how state government works. The tour guides are knowledgeable and audible and the representatives can usually find a minute to talk to students from their district if this is set up well in advance. It’s also interesting to try to find a lobbying group that can talk with the kids as well, such as the Illinois Environmental Council.

We just popped in here to appreciate the architecture, although we did see a few people on a guided tour that would have been informative. This building’s interior is absolutely stunning. Pictures cannot do it justice because all the details and broader perspective can’t be captured by the camera lens. If nothing else, take a picture of the inside of the dome with all its stained glass, reminiscent of the Oculus of the Pantheon in Rome.

I have mixed reviews on the things we saw in Springfield but this wasn’t one of them. We made a b-​line to the Capitol building when we spotted it from 6^th street. Can’t say I’ve seen a building this large with a silver (not gold) dome. That aspect alone could have made the building unique. It got better on the inside though, a trip we only made because my son insisted. After walking down a hallway you come to the middle of the building which offers an awe-​inspiring look upwards at the beautiful dome interior, murals, statues and other forms of art. The third floor offers the best look at the interior, especially the dome interior.
If you’re in Springfield do yourself a favor and make this a priority. Aside from Abe’s Tomb we didn’t find anything else in town quite as interesting as the Capitol building.

I LOVED the IL state capitol, it was definitely one of my favourites!
There’s lots to look at, both inside and outside the building, lots of interesting statues, exhibitions, information — we spent a while here and took tonnes of pictures.
Springfield, IL is filled with rich, deep culture and is well worth the visit!

Beautiful, clean and impressive. The tour lasted 30 minutes and included tour of the Illinois Supreme Court, Senate and House of Representatives as well as several life size statues of interesting past mayors, politicians, etc. Several members of our group became stuck on the elevator for 40 minutes during a hot summer day (July 14^th), and staff, while very concerned, called the maintenance man who stated up front that it was going to take him 25 minutes before arrival. No call was made to 911 and there were small children on the elevator. One of them, an asthmatic, suffered an asthma attack and several were unable to complete the tour due to fear and having to spend such a long time waiting for help. Tour was on a Sunday and there are no maintenance personnel on hand to care for an immediate emergency… inexcusable. Our seniors were unable to tour due to the entrance stairs and long walk way. Would have rated 5 stars but for the elevator incident.

When I had arrived, there would have been a 1-​hr time gap for the next scheduled tour to begin, so I opted to meander on my own.
If you l like garish slightly over-​the-​top neo-​classicism architecture, then this is the place for you; and unfortunately, this wasn’t floatin’ my boat personally, and loved it more at the ‘old’ State Capitol Building (which’ll get a review here as well!).
I usually try to make ppl crack a smile if they look indifferent, and the security guard at the front-​door checkpoints didn’t budge in attitude, and neither did the lady at the info desk!
…wasn’t feelin the love here.

I absolutely recommend going on the «free» tour of the Illinois State Capitol. It is beautiful inside and our tour guide was such a nice person and so informative. The art work, statues, paintings inside the Capitol are gorgeous. A must see in Springfield.

State Capitol was stop 2 on our nerdy politics/​law tour of Springfield. What did you want to see? Where Blago was impeached.
Maybe we looked out of place or just had the «city walk» but the visitor’s employee was quick to greet us. We didn’t want to wait for a tour so we picked up a brochure and did our own.
First and foremost, the rotunda is gorgeous and preserved really well. I could spend most of my time admiring this versus the plentiful statutes and murals. The Senate and House galleries are a sight to see — the chandeliers in the house gallery was spectacular (and weigh 750 pounds)!
One thing I noted generally was how clean and well-​preserved everything was down in Springfield. It was also very accessible and most of the sites are free and/​or donation based.

As state capitols go, from what I’ve seen, it’s okay.
Free Tour = 10
Stained Glass = 6
The Govenor Portraits sans Blago and asking the guide how many of the former govs are in prison = Priceless
She was an obvious Democrate but trained not to comment on OUR right wing comments.
Coolest thing? The Illinois Supreme Court chambers.
I mean, on your husband’s 8^th grade tour of Springfield 36 years late, this is a NOT TO BE MISSED stop.

Tours every half hour, but the tours are short, only of the senate and the house… there is apparently a stop in the old supreme court room, but if the senate has a meeting there at the time they cannot bring you in. All in all it was a nice little tour, but because it’s so quick… I cannot give it 5 stars.

Came here to lobby our representative and was quite impressed with our Capitol. It’s too bad the rest of Springfield sucks.
But seriously. I found the process of trying to get your representative’s attention to come out and talk to you refreshingly easy (even though our rep didn’t come out! Grrrr!). The pages & security who worked there were nice enough and also set up the right ground rules — keeping an aisle clear for people to get in and out.
I thought the Capitol was beautiful, just beautiful. It was great to see. If you’re considering a trip to Springfield, definitely take a stop and check out the grounds.
Also, I did chuckle with the Lincoln statue and the fact that the Douglas station was just a few hundred yards behind Lincoln.

The Illinois State Capitol is one of the best free museums in the State of Illinois.
My bone to pick is with self-​proclaimed state capitol afficionado, Dave S. of Milwaukee, who a year ago wrote Unilocal’s first review, while overfocusing on the no longer (if ever) visible black gunk in the Rotunda, which he claimed obscured the stained glass.
Well, you can see the stained glass just fine. Dave S. said the Capitol was «pedestrian,» «underwhelming,» «needs some love» and dissed it, without any mention of how gorgeous the Rotunda is, as are many other features of the statehouse, ranging from extensive paintings, murals, statuary, exquisite railings, columns, frescos, etc.
The restoration levels of every historic piece of art or sculpture I saw is high!
You can spend a few days here. Easy. I’ve done it, and haven’t yet covered a fraction of this stunning structure and its contents.
Amtrak will get you here for $ 36 roundtrip for the day, and you can walk to the Capitol from the train station. For perspective, parking and admission fees at the Art Institute of Chicago are about that much.
See the pix I’ve posted:

My wife and I met each other as tour guides at the Wisonsin State Capitol when we were both students in Madison. So we decided to try to visit all 50 state capitols. 13 down, quite a few capitols left to go.
The first stop outside of Wisconsin on our Capitol odyssey was our neighbor to the south, Illinois. We visited the Illinois State Capitol in 2001.
I really want to love every capitol I go to. I really do. But I just don’t. Some capitols are nicer than others. Now that I’ve seen a fair number of Capitols, I can tell some are more «loved» than others. Let’s just say that the Illinois State Capitol doesn’t exactly put the «spring in Springfield.» It’s pretty clear when visiting the Illinois State Capitol that the seat of real power in the State is not Springfield but Chicago.
This capitol needs some love. When visiting a Capitol the first thing most people do when they walk in is stand in the middle of the rotunda and look up into the inner dome. Here the view is underwhelming. You can tell that under the layer of black gunk at the very top of the inner dome lies some pretty impressive stained glass. But you can’t see it under the decades and decades of grime built up over it.
Leglislative chambers are fairly pedestrian. I’ve always been slightly irritated by those legislative chambers that are too nice. Like the State has nothing better to spend its money on that Assembly and Senate «bling.» But here in Springfield that’s not a problem. Though we didn’t know it at the time, we were in the very chamber where then-​State Senator Barack Obama held court. He’s definitely moved up in the world from these chambers.
The siting of the Capitol itself is horrenous. There are no trees, no park, no grand colonade. Just a few barren lawns and acres and acres of parking lots surrounding the Capitol for several blocks.
One area where the Illinois capitol really shines is statuary. There are at least three full statues of Lincoln in the capitol, including one standing right in the middle of the rotunda. There are so many statues everywhere it’s almost creepy. Statues of famous Illinois politicians.
Perhaps one day there will be a statue of Obama in the rotunda. We’ll see.