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Capitol Visitors Center to Open in December
CQ Daily

The long-delayed, $621 million Capitol Visitors Center will open on Dec. 2, congressional leaders plan to announce Thursday.

The date was chosen for its historical significance.

It was on Dec. 2, 1863 — during the Civil War — that the Statue of Freedom was hoisted into position atop the Capitol dome. A plaster model of the statue, long on display on the lower level of the Russell Senate Office Building, is being dismantled and will be moved to the new center by October.

Members of Congress, constituent groups and families will be invited to come through the center before the formal opening as test users, Rouse added. She estimated that as many as 50,000 people could come through the center during the test phase and before the formal opening.

The center’s costs escalated throughout years of planning and actual construction as the project expanded in scope, a host of construction obstacles were encountered and various congressional committees insisted that top-quality materials be used in a building that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world annually.