The Wisconsin State Capitol is notable for being freely open to tourists for most of its operating hours, save for noon, allowing visitors to enjoy the splendor of charm dispersed throughout the Beaux-Arts style building. After its reconstruction in 1906, the Capitol building has gradually acquired over 1,000 works of art – ranging from statues and murals, to natural finds such as fossils.
Whilst it’s most commonly known that the exterior of the capitol is completely comprised of White Bethel granite, the interior of the capitol is mainly made of marble and limestone, the latter of which can contain fossils.
The most well known fossil is the starfish. This fossil can be found on the second floor of the Northern Gallery, on the fourth step from the bottom.
However, this isn’t the only fossil that the capitol contains. Other fossils that can be found inside the capitol include a gastropod in the railing that oversees the ground floor in the west Gallery, a Bryozoan inside the top of the second floor south staircase, and Brachiopods on the ground floor, to name a few.
Another area of interest lies in the various statues that lay around the capitol, from the base to the top of the dome.
At the base of the capitol, greeting visitors, is the statue Forward, which is commonly confused with the statue on top of the dome, Wisconsin. Originally commissioned in 1893, the statue had sat outside the capitol for only 11 years before weather exposure demanded the statue to be replaced. The statue was thereafter purchased by women’s suffrage organizations, and both it and it’s replica serve as an icon of the women’s suffrage movement, being used as a forefront for protesting women’s health laws in 2023.
It’s also not uncommon to see badgers riddled throughout the building, since it is the state’s animal. Badgers can be seen depicted on various doorknobs, murals, and statues, including as a helmet atop Wisconsin on the building’s dome. Another of these statues is most notably the large badger statue sitting outside the Governor’s office on the second floor of the Eastern Gallery, wrapped around the state’s motto. As of now, the statue is not able to be visited up close;however, the bronze badger is still easily visible down the long hallway.
With spring being the Capitol’s second most popular time for touring, it’s best to take advantage of these works of art whilst the time allows (and potentially grabbing yourself something to eat afterwards). The Capitol is always waiting, and always open for your finds.