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38-822: The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford , the capital of Connecticut . The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly ; the upper house, the State Senate , and lower house, the House of Representatives , as well as the office of the Governor of the State of Connecticut . The Connecticut Supreme Court occupies a building (built 1908–1910) across Capitol Avenue. The current building

76-502: A miser character being damned, and even making comments about politics by showing Charlemagne bowing his head. Another example from France, the Coucy Doujon tympanum was carved between 1225 and 1230 and is evidence that tympanums were used in secular settings as well. The large tympanum was positioned above the door to the largest tower, as a way to tell anyone entering the building a message. The message for this particular tympanum

114-427: Is Christ in the middle and the saved souls on the left, serving as a reminder for pilgrims of why they made their journey. The imagery on this tympanum is primarily meant to remind the viewer of the power of gods judgement, part of many ways that tympanums through the era mentally prepare pilgrims for the experience of the church. There are many more subtle messages however, such as encouraging donations through depicting

152-455: Is roughly rectangular, the interior spaces organized around two open interior courts that run vertically to large skylights. In the center is a third circular open rotunda beneath the dome. The larger hall of the House of Representatives forms an extension on the south side. The building's ornately decorated facades display statuary and include several statues, medallions and carved tympana over

190-750: Is the third capitol building for the State of Connecticut since the American Revolution . The General Assembly of Connecticut (state legislature) met alternately in Hartford and New Haven since before the American Revolution . When in Hartford, the General Assembly met in the Old State House , designed in 1792 by Charles Bulfinch , and when sitting in New Haven , in a State House designed in 1827 by Ithiel Town . After

228-595: The American Civil War ; the Corning Fountain in 1899, with sculpture by J. Massey Rhind ; the 1914 carousel in 1974 (with a Wurlitzer #153 Band Organ providing the music); and the performance pavilion in 1995. As a result of seasonal flooding and pollution, and especially after damage from the great flood of 1936, the Park River was buried in underground conduits, and a main feature of

266-544: The United States , after Boston Common, which was established in 1634, and converted to a park in the 1830’s. Bushnell Park was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized. Today the park comprises 50 acres (20 ha) of green space, and is visited by over one million people each year. Paths through

304-429: The 9th or 10th century. This transformation continued throughout the later parts of the early Middle Ages, gradually shifting into the large circular stained glass windows of the gothic era known as rose windows. Classical pediments more closely transformed into rose windows than tympanums, and when pedimental shapes reappeared over gothic and Romanesque portals, inspiration can be traced in other directions. According to

342-502: The Civil War, the complications of this plan began to be evident, and both Hartford and New Haven competed to be sole state capital. Hartford won, and the new sole capital needed one central capitol building. The General Assembly authorized a million dollar project, and two competitors, James G. Batterson and Richard M. Upjohn , vied to be awarded the project. Upjohn won, but Batterson, a stone importer and merchant and not an architect,

380-472: The Gospel of Luke, above Jesus on the cross was written "this is the king of jews" to mock his powerlessness. This inspired buildings as early as the arch of Constantine and old Saint Peters basilica which featured an engraving a Christ with a poem inscribed in second person perspective, an essential feature of later tympanum inscriptions. Early reliquaries and pilgrimage churches employed this convention, such as

418-617: The Hartford City Council voted unanimously in November to spend public funds to buy the land that was to become Bushnell Park. Hartford voters approved the expenditure on Jan. 5, 1854, by a vote of 1,687 to 683, making it the first municipal park in the nation to be conceived, built and paid for by citizens through a popular vote. But six years later the park still had not taken shape. Reverend Bushnell asked his good friend and Hartford native, Frederick Law Olmsted , to design

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456-482: The Navy Gideon Welles (1802–1878), and United States Senator Orville Hitchcock Platt (1827–1905). There are 24 niches for sculpture, eight of which are still empty. The last one added was that of Ella T. Grasso (b. 1919), the first female governor of the state, who died in 1981 of cancer shortly after resigning her office. There are high relief scenes from the state's history in the 16 tympana above

494-485: The Romans spread the style further into Europe, picking up an aspect of authoritarian symbolism in provinces captured by conquest. Originally serving as the end of a gabled roof, in later imperial Rome the form was adjusted. Pediments started being placed above any doorway and curved instead of triangle shapes were introduced, ignoring structural value and instead using the now abstracted form purely for decoration. After

532-594: The Shrine of Saint Martin at Tours which in 558 installed engravings of the life of Christ and the churches patron saint (Saint Martin). These engravings situated directly above the main entrances had poems inscribed directing visitors on how they should feel entering the church. This was quickly replicated in Carolingian era churches such as the abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland, completing the decorative style of

570-580: The building began in 1871. The building was completed in 1878, and it opened for the session of the General Assembly of Connecticut in January 1879. The New York Times described the newly constructed building: "a vast mass of white marble (is) this imposing structure, and in the dazzling sunshine of a New-England Summer noon sparkles like a fairy palace of frost work." The site of the Capitol

608-560: The building interior is painted in a multi-colored scheme continuing the 1870s Eastlake design aesthetic throughout. The Capitol Building is open to the public, with self-guided and guided tours available on weekdays. Guided tours begin inside the West Entrance of the Legislative Office Building. Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the second oldest publicly funded park in

646-399: The building's main floor hold historical artifacts, principally battle standards of Civil War units. The flags were deposited with the state by 10,000 of the state's veterans, who formed a procession to the Capitol, and deposited 30 regimental flags on September 17, 1879. This action was taken to make the building a memorial to the Civil War. The building suffered some crowding of offices, and

684-546: The carvings are of pre-Revolutionary War figures. The east and west facades contain people from the Revolutionary War or government service, and the south facade's figures are from the Civil War and onwards. The central domed tower is distinctive. The dome itself is 32 ft (9.8 m) tall; on top of that is a cupola 55 ft (16.8 m) in height, and the drum below is 75 ft (22.9 m), making

722-593: The collapse of the Roman empire, regions with significant classical architecture quickly adopted and transformed the features. In France examples such as the Baptistry of St. Jean at Poitiers created in the 6th through 7th century CE defined Merovingian architecture. The form became abstracted in this period, replacing sculptures with geometric engravings and mosaics, and using small alternating curved and triangular pediments above windows on churches such as St. Generoux from

760-423: The design for the capitol dome. The project finally passed in 2009, and a new bronze cast has been made. It has not yet been mounted on the summit of the dome, awaiting an additional $ 200,000 in funding. At the exterior base of the dome are 12 statues in six pairs representing Agriculture, Commerce, Education/Law, Force/War, Science/Justice, and Music. The interior has two matching ornate open stairwells and all of

798-517: The doors (except the west, which only has statues). The statues are of politicians and other people important to the state's history, including the Reverend Thomas Hooker (1586–1647), Major John Mason (1600–1672), Governor John Winthrop Jr. (1605/1606–1676), Roger Sherman (1721–1793), Revolutionary War Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1710–1785), Noah Webster (1758–1843), General Joseph Hawley (1826–1905), Civil War Secretary of

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836-475: The doors, except for the carving above the main north door, which is of the state seal. The typanum of the main east door holds The Charter Oak by Charles Salewski , the first piece of sculpture created for the Capitol. The interior floors used white marble and red slate from Connecticut, and some of the colored marble is from Italy. The statues, medallions, and tympana are grouped by period. The north facade has six statues, five tympana, and two medallions, and

874-470: The drum taller than the 70 ft (21.3 m) height of the main walls. The overall height of the tower is 257 ft (78.3 m). The building's dome originally had a large statue on top, named The Genius of Connecticut , which was taken down in 1938 after being damaged in the great hurricane of that year . The statue was cast in bronze from a plaster original, and was 17 ft 10 in (5.4 m) tall, and weighed 7,000 lb (3,175 kg). It

912-428: The introduction of partition walls and other temporary expedients which detracted from the plan of the building up to 1979 and 1989 when efforts began at restoration. The State Capitol was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1971. The building is one of the largest Eastlake style buildings. The exterior is of marble from East Canaan, Connecticut and granite from Westerly, Rhode Island . The building

950-497: The last judgement, which was the subject of a large portion of tympanums, however, the Conques tympanum is far more detailed in its figures and scenes in a way reminiscent of Roman reliefs. This work was meant to be horrifying to the people who passed under it, on the right demons torture the souls of the damned, sinners are fed to grotesque monsters, and people are crammed into small spaces as they await their judgment. Contrasting this

988-407: The layout of the park. Olmsted, however, was occupied at the time with the double-duty of designing of New York City 's Central Park and Springfield, Massachusetts ' Forest Park , and thus declined the offer. Olmsted recommended Jacob Weidenmann , a Swiss-born landscape architect and botanist. Weidenmann's plan for the park included graceful paths and clusters of trees that shielded strollers from

1026-538: The pantheon remaining famous to this day. Pediments spread across the Hellenistic world with the rest of classical architecture. Inscriptions at the time were sometimes blank but often contained statues of the gods and representations of geographic features, there are uncountable stories and messages in these inscriptions however the symbolism remained closely related to the philosophy and democracy associated with classical Greek city states. These themes continued when

1064-677: The park contribute to the East Coast Greenway . Hartford in the 1850s was a rapidly growing river town, doubling in population from 1850 to 1860. The city's economy was booming, driven by industries such as publishing, insurance, banking, munitions, manufacturing and river shipping. Like many American cities of the time, Hartford was enjoying the benefits of the Industrial Revolution . But along with this growth came some growing pains, including crime, crowded tenements, poverty, poor sanitation, polluted water and air. It

1102-492: The park was lost. [1] A pond was later added to return a water feature to the park. Since 2017, the Bushnell Park Pond has been home to Horace, a territorial Great Blue Heron, lovingly named by the local 06103 community to commemorate both Horace Wells , and Horace Bushnell . Today Bushnell Park is a focal point in downtown Hartford , and it is the site of several festivals and music events each year. The park

1140-516: The sounds of the city, and enhanced the presence of the Park River which flowed through the park. Later additions to the park include: the statue of Israel Putnam in 1874, sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward ; the statue of Horace Wells in 1875, sculpted by Truman Howe Bartlett ; the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch , designed by George Keller in 1886 to commemorate those who fought in

1178-531: The tympanum. The Romanesque era (1000–1200) saw massive change in church architecture. Pilgrimage required churches to rethink layouts and symbolism and the ever-rising Benedictine order changed rules on how churches should operate and appear. Architecturally the Romanesque era saw an increased appreciation for classical forms, coupled with an increase in church construction related to several factors including political turmoil and as thanks to god for not ending

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1216-558: The world in the year 1000. Tympanums are one of the most prominent features of Romanesque architecture, building on the French legacy of architectural innovation while also appearing on churches across Europe. The tympanum above the west portal of the Sainte-Foy church in Conques is possibly the most famous tympanum; carved in the early 1100s it is emblematic of the style, purpose and culture of Romanesque tympanums. This tympanum depicts

1254-409: Was chosen since it is adjacent to Bushnell Park and had access to more surrounding open space than the older building in the immediate downtown. The site was originally the location of the old Trinity College and was then known as "Trinity Hill", and the city street to the immediate east is still named Trinity Street. (Trinity College relocated to a new campus south of the downtown.) Some galleries on

1292-520: Was executed in Rome and was cast in Munich, Germany . During World War II , the piece was donated to the federal government and melted down as part of the war effort to make ammunition and machine parts. The original plaster statue is now at the capitol, and has been coated in bronze. In 2002, Proposed Bill No. 5273 before the General Assembly sought authorization to make a new casting of the statue to restore

1330-528: Was home to two leather tanneries, a soapworks, pigsties and other livestock–even a garbage dump. A railroad spur ran through it and the smelly Park River, polluted with the city's industrial waste, ran alongside it. Crowded tenements lined both banks of the river, with their outhouses in the back emptying directly into the sluggish current. Even Rev. Bushnell described it as “hell without the fire.” However, after hearing Dr. Bushnell's presentation in October 1853,

1368-424: Was in this context that Bushnell presented an idea that had not been suggested in any other American city: the creation of a public park, financed entirely by public funds. Initial public reaction was skeptical. Hard-nosed business leaders were opposed to removing taxable property from the tax rolls. Furthermore, it was hard to imagine a less likely place for a green, peaceful park than Bushnell's proposed site, which

1406-482: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Tympanum (architecture) Alternatively, the tympanum may hold an inscription, or in modern times, a clock face. Tympanums are by definition inscriptions enclosed by a pediment, however the evolution of tympanums gives them more specific implications. Pediments first emerged in classical Greece 700-480 BCE, with early examples such as

1444-536: Was named the building contractor. Batterson then continually revised the Upjohn plan to more and more closely resemble his own plan. The central tower, for example, is Batterson's, not Upjohn's. Batterson's extensive elaboration of Upjohn's plan ended up more than doubling the cost to over $ 2,500,000. Richard M. Upjohn's design is in the Eastlake style , with French and Gothic Revival styled elements. Construction of

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