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California State Capitol and Museum
The California State Capitol
Museum encompassed the structures and landscapes of the California
State Capitol building that is in Sacramento, California, and has
been the place where the state legislature has assembled since 1869.
The capitol building went through a major restoration in 1975 that
ended in 1982, bringing it back to its former glory and beauty. In
this building, visitors can explore the renovated offices of
historic value that include the governor of the state, the attorney
general, treasurer and secretary of state. It showcases displays,
tours and the exciting opportunity to view the legislature in
process. Some 40 acres of landscaped grounds and gardens encompass
the Capitol Park, that have brought shrubs and trees from across the
globe, as well as monuments and memorials that amplify the state's
most important moments in history. These include; a life sized
statue of Father Junipero Serra, one of the Roman Catholic
missionaries that was sent by Spain to assist the colonization of
the territory, with a map of the state's 21 missions from Sonoma to
San Diego at the bottom of the statue; also a state's Vietnam
Veterans memorial, with life sized bronze figures of the service
personnel showing life in Vietnam and contains engravings of the
names of the Californians killed or missing in action; the
California Veterans Memorial, which is a granite obelisk that honors
the state's veterans from the Mexican-American War, Civil War,
Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam War and the
Persian Gulf War. There is a Civil War memorial grove that was
planted in 1897, with saplings that came from the many famous
battlefields of that costly war; also the California Firefighters
memorial that was put up to show honor to the fallen firefighters
and the Y-ET-IM TEH-LEI-LI California Indian grinding rock. There is
a wonderful replica of the Liberty Bell, as well as a bell from the
USS California (BB-44). The capitol art program takes care of
the collected works housed here that include; the permanent
collection, the biennial senate contemporary art collection, the
loan collection and a large number of antiques and statuary
collections that are found throughout the historic west wing and
east annex of the capitol. Over 50 paintings are included in the
permanent collection with seascapes, still life, landscapes and
paintings of scenes from everyday life; with some being gifts and
others purchased as money became available. The artworks are
displayed in two historic time frames, with those in the west wing
coming from the period 1870 to 1910, and those in the east wing
coming from 1920 to 1950. In the loan collection, there are over 100
paintings exhibited in the west wing's first floor in the leadership
offices and conference rooms. The Senate's biennial California
contemporary art collection has come from the contemporary artworks
that are found throughout the state and every senator chooses an
artist from their district and it is shown for two years in the
offices behind the senate chambers. There are two spectacular murals
installed on the walls, with one on the west wing basement rotunda,
a hypnotic rendering of the state's past and future perceived by the
artist Arthur Mathews in 1914 and 1915. There are twelve panels
representing the discovery of the state, the gold rush, the mission
period, how the state's future might appear and Commodore Sloat
coming into Monterey Bay. The other magnificent mural is the one in
the east annex on the fourth floor in John L. Burton's room that is
three glossy huge murals that were made as part of a WPA project
during the great depression that is titled "the Origin of the Name
of the State of California. Then in 1931, the legislature authorized
a tradition of commissioning portraits of the state's governors and
now, there are 36 governors showcased all through the west wing;
although the styles are different since each governor is allowed to
chose their own artist and between them, the decision is made how to
proceed.
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