Helena is the capital of Montana, so of course, we had to visit the Capitol Building. The building is not as large or as ostentatious as some we have seen, but it was still really nice and well worth the visit.
There were a lot of unusual things about Montana government we found to be very interesting. The state senators and representatives can serve no more than eight years. They conduct all of their business during a 90 day period every other year. That's right, they only work 3 months out of every 24 months - definitely not a full time job. Their salary as elected officials reflects that as well. They average just over $10.00/hour for their time (plus a per diem).
Another very interesting thing is that the Capitol Building was not surrounded by a huge network of government annex buildings. On every side of the Capitol there were neighborhoods of small, very average looking, houses. Three blocks away was a Safeway supermarket.
Lilacs are in bloom everywhere!
My favorite story about Montana's Capitol Building concerned the "Goddess of Liberty" statue on the dome. Helena and the neighboring town of Anaconda were fighting over which one should be the capital of the new state. The guys designing the building were apparently frustrated and ran off with all of the plans and records. Later, after Helena became the capital, this statue arrived during construction of the building. Nobody knew what it was for or who had bought it. The statue company's records were destroyed in a fire, so there was no way to trace it. The construction company thought the dome should be crowned by a statue. The state lawmakers agreed and they decided to go ahead and use this one.
at same night).This was the extent of the security for the capitol.
As we entered the building we could hear a lot of people were on the second floor under the rotunda. They were just finishing a meeting to kick off the season's campaign for their State Parks (we saw it covered on a newscast later that night). We did the Self Guided Tour since the man at the information desk told us he had a lot of groups coming in for the day. We never saw another group, so I assume he just needed to rest up for whenever they arrived.
All of the columns in the building were made to look like marble. They were hollow to allow for wiring and they were made using a plaster technique called scagliola. It created such a realistic look, Joani did not believe it until she read it in our guidebook.
Breathtaking 90 panel leaded glass barrel vault ceiling.
When we reached the Office of the Governor, a very nice receptionist invited us in to look around. There were some nice paintings on the office walls. She also showed us the Governor's Reception Room and told us about some of the room's history.
Each Montana Indian tribe is represented by a flag in front of the mantle.
This was the most colorful capitol building we have visited, by far!
They removed the phones, but left the booths!
Construction began in 1908.
There are 59 breathtaking stained glass windows in the cathedral.
Next was a small art museum. Unfortunately, they were in the middle of setting up a show that would not be ready until the end of the week. We spent a few minutes inside, but they was very little to view. The museum had potential and maybe one day we will be back.
These porcelain "Wall Quilts" (40"x 40")
can be yours for $4,800 each.
The minaret on this building was visible from a large part of the city and was on our way to another museum so, of course, we stopped to investigate. It turned out to be the cities Civic Center.
This Algeria Shrine Temple Helena Civic Center
Our final stop for the day was the Exploration Works. It was a museum designed specifically for kids, so there was not a lot for us. Since we were there and it was a member of the ASTC network, we decided to spend a few minutes looking around.
We pretty much had the place to ourselves.
The bees were new to the museum and they seemed pretty proud of the exhibit. I'm not really a bee fan and I suspect there are a lot of kids freaked out by all of the buzzing, but they were fascinating to watch.
This was my favorite display. Everyone has seen the small bed of nails toy that can be used on a hand or part of your face, but this one was huge! I look like Han Solo encased in carbonite - what do you think?
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