The Utah State Capitol

I really enjoy visiting US state capitol buildings. I've been to two of them before, and both were fascinating!

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Texas State Capitol

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Oklahoma State Capitol

This week, I got to visit a third when I toured the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. Three down, just 47 more capitol buildings to go...

Utah State Capitol Building

It's free to visit the capitol building, which sits on a hill overlooking Temple Square and downtown Salt Lake City.

The current building was constructed in 1916 to replace the old Territorial Statehouse and the Salt Lake City Council Hall. It's a beautiful neo-classical Corinthain-style building with a large copper dome and rotunda (currently the 79th tallest dome in the world).

There's a big beautiful green park surrounding the capitol building, and tons of people were outside sitting on the lawn, playing with their dogs, and enjoying the relatively cool afternoon temperatures.

The steps leading up to the building were flanked with large lion statues, and a statue of Massasoit, the American Indian chief from the Thanksgiving story stands at the front of the building. I'm not 100% sure why, as Massachusetts, where Massasoit lived, is roughly 2,000 miles from Utah.

The ground floor of the capitol building has a small museum with information about the building and its history, as well as Utah history and culture. 

The museum displayed lots of interesting artifacts, including the original Great Seal of the State of Utah, which is on display unless it's actively being used by the Lieutenant Governor. The seal features a wyvern, a mythological dragon-like creature that is a symbol of protection.

the Great Seal of Utah

The interior of the building features several more wyvern adornments, and it's fun to search for them. Some are more hidden than others, and it's kind of like a scavenger hunt to see how many you can find.

one of the many Utah wyverns in the building

Utah recently got a new flag.

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Vexillology: New and Old US State Flags

Although originally just designated as a ceremonial flag for Utah's bicentennial, the flag proved popular and has recently been promoted to become the new official state flag.

I much prefer the new design, which features white mountains and a large golden beehive, the symbol of the state.

an exhibit about the new state flag

Utah's nickname is "The Beehive State" and once you know that, you'll start to see beehives everywhere, from state highway road markers to decorative post toppers.

The history of the beehive is pretty interesting. It's not because Utah produces a lot of honey or has a lot of honeybees, but rather, like many things in Utah, it goes back to early Mormon history and culture.

an exhibit about Utah's beehive symbol

Early Mormon pioneers adopted the beehive as a symbol of cooperation, perseverance, community, and self-sufficiency, reflecting the hard-working spirit of early westward pioneers.

a beehive statue on the steps of the capitol

In the Book of Mormon, the word "deseret" is a word meaning "honeybee", and you'll see that word all over the place in Utah as well, from Deseret Books (a local religious bookstore) to Deseret News (one of the state's biggest newspapers) to the short-lived Deseret Alphabet (an early failed attempt at creating a Mormon alphabet).

In fact, the early Mormons wanted to establish what Joseph Smith called a "theodemocratic state" called the State of Deseret in what is now Utah and Nevada. The federal government obviously rejected this idea, naming this area the Utah Territory instead after the indigenous Ute people who lived there. Utah officially became the 45th state in 1896. The territory took a while to be granted statehood, as the federal government required that the church and territory outlaw polygamy before admittance into the Union.

They offer free capitol tours every hour, but I got really unlucky with my timing and arrived at the same time as a school field trip. I can't think of anything worse than taking an architecture and history tour with 20 3rd graders, so I went on the self-guided tour instead.

Nothing was going on in the capitol on the day I visited, so I had a good chance to explore and look around. I got to peek inside the Supreme Court chambers...

Utah Supreme Court

... the Utah State Senate...

Utah Senate

... and the Utah House of Representatives.

Utah House of Representatives

They were setting up for some sort of event, so I didn't get to go stand in the rotunda. However, I was able to look at it from the second floor balcony and was really impressed by the murals of Utah history which adorned the ceiling and dome interior.

the Utah Rotunda