November 17, 2021

GEORGIA STATE CAPITOL

206 Washington St SW, Atlanta, GA 30334

“The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.” Wikipedia

As part of my quest to visit the capitol of every state I visited the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. I was proud of myself for successfully navigating the traffic of Atlanta on my own to get to the capitol. As I made my way to the building from the parking lot I found the foot traffic to be more than I expected. I soon found that I had picked the day the legislature was meeting in special session to pass Georgia’s redistricting plan. This wasn’t an issue except I could not take any pictures inside either the House or Senate chambers while they were in session.

After passing through security and having to show an I.D., the security guard told me his desk was out of tour brochures but that I could get one at the visitors center on the second floor. After finding my way to the second floor and looking for the center a nice legislator stopped me and asked if I needed assistance. When I told him I was from Iowa touring the building he graciously gave me a little history and pointed out some of the spots he thought I should visit. It was by him I found out about the special session to pass the redistricting plan, and he explained he was running for one of Georgia’s congressional seats, however, the plan they had just passed placed him in a different congressional district. I told him I was sorry (or something along those lines) and we both went on our way.

The capitol’s rotunda, said to be the tallest of all the capitols, was pretty plain. There were the obligatory statues and portraits around the first and second floor, but otherwise nothing. There were two wings which housed portraits of Georgia’s governors and other distinguished Georgians, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

The second floor housed the Governor’s Office, along with other executive offices. The third floor is where the House and Senate chambers were, much of this floor was cordoned off because of the special session. The fourth floor housed the Georgia State Museum, with many displays of depicting the history of the state.

After exploring the interior of the building I circled the exterior of the grounds looking at the many statues.

Georgia’s capitol building was beautiful, however, I left with a very uneasy feeling, mainly because of one portrait on the second or third floor. It was a portrait of Robert E. Lee. Normally I do not get upset with tributes to the confederacy, but this one is inside the “people’s house” where the laws of the state are made makes me uneasy. I would have no problem with the portrait had Lee been from Georgia, but he was a Virginian. I tried to research the significance from a Georgia perspective, but could find nothing. In my research I found other somewhat controversial tributes, mainly in some of the statues outside of the building, but they all had ties to Georgia, so I can personally justify their presence. But, to this foreigner, the tribute to a defeated Confederate general from Virginia inside the Georgia Capitol is troubling and will remain that way until someone can explain its significance and tie to Georgia.