Kate found out that you are allowed to attend a free tour that takes you up to the cupola and balcony at the top of the Kansas Capital Building. John found out that he is still afraid of heights. Kate came out ahead in this deal.

Most information that you read claims that the Kansas Capital Building is 304 feet tall. Ad Astra, the statue installed on the Kansas Capital dome in 2002, is about 22 ⅙ feet tall. In comparison, the National Capital Building is only 288 feet tall, but the dome is almost twice as big around. The Statue of Freedom on the National Capital is 19 ½ feet tall. Without the statues, the Kansas Capital Building is still about 13 ⅓ feet taller than the National Capital Building. I am sure there is a joke in here somewhere.

Since the statue on top is 22 ⅙ feet tall, John estimated that balcony was about 260 feet from the ground. The best information he could find on the internet suggests that the balcony is actually at 258 ½ feet. In the image above, the Level D# markings are not actual floor numbers, but they are levels that we stopped at on the way up. We were also given the option to 🐓 out at each of the levels. John did not find many details on the dome tower, so the heights for the Level D# are just estimates from the photo.

The seating area by the antique elevator on the fifth floor was the meeting place for the dome tour. On the side of the antique elevator was a copy of the Senate Bill calling for the historic preservation of the elevator. I am not sure if that is funny, sad, or commendable. There were about ten people, including us, waiting for the tour. The waiting area was just off of the rotunda overlook, so we took a few pictures. Most, if not all, the floors overlooking the rotunda have amazing murals. After a few minutes, the lady from the front desk met everyone to find out who wanted to go up the 296 steps to the dome balcony. Two older people and a pregnant woman stayed behind, so about seven of us headed up.

The D is for “Damn that is really far down”. D1 is the level just under the interior dome. It has the arches around the balcony that can be seen from below, a set of stairs going along the wall heading up to D2, and windows that mostly look out onto the roof. Tourists had covered the pillars with graffiti, but the front facing side was cleaned up and painted during the renovations. The graffiti on the back of the pillar is not visible from below, so it was left for historical reference. Even the great pyramids at Giza, in Egypt, have graffiti from the builders and probably tourists at this point.

On this level, the guide asked if anyone wanted to go back down. Four people started to 🐓 out, but John said, “I want to go down, but I am going to the balcony anyway.” One of the people heading back down hesitated, and turned around to go back to the top. John thinks he accidentally shamed that guy into going to the top.

It was like an Agatha Christie murder mystery – and then there were four…

D2 is at the level of the top of the interior dome. This area is not visible from the inside of the building. In addition to the interior dome, it has a stairway along the wall to the D3 walkway, the winch platform, and windows that start providing a reasonable view. From this level, you can see the interior of the copper dome roof along with the structural supports.

When they renovated the capital from 2000 to 2013, they added a winch for the chandelier because changing light bulbs 140 feet up is hard. We think they said it takes up to 30 minutes to safely lower the chandelier. There are two knobs at head level that turn together to lower the Chandelier. The person that turns the knobs has to take a break in the middle to rest their arms. The tour highlights on this page show a picture of it being maintained on the bottom floor. This other page talks about the renovation.

From below, the center of the dome is a series of pale blue rectangles. Each rectangle is a large half inch thick pane of glass that is maybe 4′ x 2′. When they did the renovation, a young and newly hired construction worker dropped a hammer and broke one of the panes. It turns out that they are very expensive, and you know he is never going to live that down. The panel with less dust in the lower left of the picture above might have been the replaced glass panel.

D3 occupies the same space as level D2. To get to D3, you climb a set of stairs with a switch back that also provides access to the winch platform. D3 is just a walkway with windows that does not look adequately sturdy. Whenever possible, John made sure to stand on the protruding concrete of the wall structure instead of the feeble walkway. Taking pictures would require letting go of a handrail.

In the picture above on the right, you can see the structural frame of the dome. If you click on the image and zoom in, you can see there is even graffiti up here. To the left and right of the stairs, above the upper windows, there is graffiti. People climbed the structural frame, and hung off it more than 50 feet up, just to write things like “James Skeedy July 27, 1954”. The tour guide said no one ever fell to their death writing graffiti inside the dome. We forgot to ask if anyone fell and survived.

The balcony is a terrifying 70+ climb hanging over nothing. It feels like being one of those crazy people that harvest swallow’s nests in caves using rope ladders. (If you are confused, read this.) John and 🐓 guy made it to the cupola, but 🐓 guy never left the cupola. He also made it to the bottom twice as fast as everyone else. The cupola was maybe six to eight feet across, and the balcony was another two to three feet wide. It was probably 10′ to 15′ from edge to edge. The view was spectacular. The guide said that you can see about 30 miles on a clear day. There was some haze, so we could see maybe 20 miles.

The capital building includes wings for the Kansas Senate, House of Representative, and Supreme Court. With the renovations bringing the decor back to the 1900s, the rooms are stunning. If you are interested, you can see a map of the building here.

As you wander through the halls of the capital, you might come across a shoe shine station. They say that no one ever attends it, and it is not always found in the same location everyday. They say that, if you fall asleep in the chair, you will wake up with your shoes shined and a ten dollar bill missing from your wallet. They say that the shoe shine station has been removed from the building, but it always shows back up a few days later.

The Senate is filled with dark wood trim and ornate molding. The room oozes importance and gravitas. We are certain that it is far more stately when it is empty than when it is in use.

The House is very similar to the Senate, except with more seats and lighter colored decor.

The Kansas Supreme Court seats seven justices selected by the governor. On the wall above Kate, there are many portraits of justices.

The rotunda is stunning. The dome decoration, the molding, the murals, everything. It is clear why the Kansas Capital renovation has won multiple awards.

As you can see below, John had to pray to the rotunda gods to get a perfectly centered picture of the dome interior.

The visitor center is the ground floor of the capital building. This area contains the tour guide desk, shop, vending area with tables, historical crypt area, and restrooms. As you enter the main doors, the big point of interest is the giant map of Kansas and the counties inlaid in the floor.

The crypt area has historical photos and educational signs.

They also have a three foot tall plaster casting of the statue of Ceres originally intended for the dome. For various reasons, the plan was abandoned and the dome remained unadorned for 100 years. As part of the renovation, the Ad Astra statue was installed on the dome.

We also learned that “There’s no place like Kansas.” We just do not know if that is because it is fantastic or a dumpster fire.

The shop had a few amusing items in addition to the postcards that Kate immediately pounced on. The butcher block vessels are kind of neat, but they would be more interesting to make than own. We also do not have space for them in the RV. (Note: Do not buy us one. If you do, I will buy a turd farm just to leave it to you in my will.)