Mississippi State Capitol Informations

The Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi, is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Mississippi, intended to house all three branches of government: Legislative, Judicial, and Executive. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1986 and a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

The Mississippi State Capitol is located in Jackson and has been the home of Mississippi's state legislature since 1903.

The building, which is in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, was designed to house all branches of the Mississippi state government, although now the judicial branch is housed in the Carroll Gartin Justice Building across High Street, and the main office of the Governor is located in the Walter Sillers building.

The walls of the rotunda are Italian white marble with a base of Belgian black marble. The eight large columns are a type of art marble known as scagliola. The dome interior contains 750 lights which illuminate the blindfolded female figure representing "Blind Justice" and four scenes: two Native Americans, European explorers, and Confederate soldiers. Balustrades are cast iron and original to the building.

An 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) eagle soars above the dome, made of solid copper and gilded with gold leaf.

In 1979, it had a major renovation, which cost $19 million. The renovation attempted to maintain the original design whenever practical. It was completed in 1983.

The Hall of Governors is located on the first floor. Portraits of Mississippi's governors since the creation of the Mississippi Territory in 1798 are on display. The State Library and the Supreme Court chamber, now both committee meeting rooms, are located on the second floor. The Legislature is housed on the third floor, along with offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House. Public viewing galleries for both chambers are located on the fourth floor.

The Senate Chamber has seats for the 52 senators. The Chamber has different types of scagliola on the walls and columns. Its columns are Breccia violet scagliola with corinthian composite caps. Its dome is stained Art Nouveau glass with another dome on top for protection. In the center of the dome is a green circle of printing that reads, "The people's government—made for the people—made by the people—and answerable to the people." An image of a Native American woman is on six panels in the dome. The Chamber desks were replaced in the 1940s.

The House of Representatives Chamber has seats for the 122 representatives, including the Speaker, the chamber's presiding officer. The Chamber dome is the original Art Nouveau stained glass with another dome on top for protection of the stained glass. Desks are the originals of 1903. The Mississippi Coat of Arms is at the top of each arch. The walls are scagliola and their base is Belgian black marble.

One of the 53 replicas of the original Liberty Bell, and a statue erected in memory of the ladies, mothers, sisters, wives and daughters of the Confederate soldiers are located on the Capitol grounds. Also on the grounds is the figurehead from the second USS Mississippi battleship. The figurehead was presented to Mississippi by the United States Navy in December 1909, but the ship was sold to the government of Greece during 1914.

The Capitol appears briefly in the movie The Help.

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