mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
I admit it – I’m reading the new Dan Brown book. I feel like I should be a little bit embarrassed, but it’s the fastest-selling adult novel of all time, so obviously I’m in good company. In case you’re not familiar, The Lost Symbol involves the typical Robert Langdon-style hunt for clues and symbols through a bunch of familiar, historic places – including the U.S. Capitol Building. I know Brown is known to take some liberties with history, so I thought I’d look for some of the Capitol’s more interesting features for myself.
1. The Capitol was built after Thomas Jefferson held a design competition to elicit entries from some of the finest architects in America. The prize was $500, but the only one of the submissions that even came close to earning it was one by a French architect. His design would have been too expensive, though, and so the search continued. Finally, a late entry by William Thornton did the trick – Washington and Jefferson both raved over it – and the design was chosen.
2. The Capitol has its own subway. And I bet it doesn’t smell like subways usually smell. It’s been there in some variation since 1909 and carries politicians from House and Senate office buildings to the Capitol.
3. George Washington himself laid the cornerstone for the Capitol on September 18, 1793, and, as Dan Brown said, it was a Masonic ceremony.
4. At one point, there were plans for the first president to be buried under the Capitol building in an area called the Crypt. Designers even received permission from Martha Washington to do so. When the time came to move the body from Mt. Vernon to D.C., plans fell through because Washington’s will specified that his final resting place should be Mt. Vernon. The Crypt is now used to keep some of the National Statuary Hall Collection and to house a gift shop. And you can still see where the tomb was going to go – that’s it in the picture to the left.
5. There used to be a law in place that restricted any building in D.C. from being built taller than the Captiol. It could be equal to the Capitol in height, but no higher than. Passed in 1899, this law didn’t last long – it was amended in 1910 and now the Capitol is only the fifth-tallest building in the District of Columbia. It’s shorter than the Washington Monument, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Old Post Office and the Washington National Cathedral.
6. The statue that sits atop the dome is called the Statue of Freedom. If she ever fell off, someone below would be in trouble – at 15,000 pounds, I bet the old gal would do more than a little damage. She’s 19-and-a-half feet tall and stepped down from her pedestal for the first time in 1993 for a much-needed restoration (pictured at left). Hey, you’d need some spackling too if you were 130 years old.
7. If you’ve ever thought that the Capitol seems to be backward, you’re not alone. Many people have wondered why the building faces away from the Mall instead of toward it, like most other important buildings and monuments. The reason, according to the Capitol website, is that the east side of the Capitol is the only one with level ground for a proper entrance, so the Capitol and the statue on top face east toward the people who are entering it.
8. The Architects of the Capitol oversee the maintenance, operation and preservation of all of the Capitol buildings and grounds. Only 11 men have ever served in this position, starting with William Thornton in 1793. The current Architect is Stephen T. Ayers.
9. The Capitol didn’t fare too well during the War of 1812 and nearly burned to the ground. It would have been just ashes if a well-timed storm hadn’t put the fire out. The building was pretty well gutted, as was the Library of Congress.
10. The famous dome we know today wasn’t added to the building until the 1850s under the watch of Architect Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect. The picture shows the first dome, which third Architect Charles Bulfinch added. This was due to some pretty extensive additions to the Capitol – although rebuilt after the War of 1812 fiasco, politicians quickly outgrew their workspace as states were added and more representatives filled the building. As the Capitol building was extended to make room, the Bulfinch dome looked out of place and disproportionate. The construction of the new dome took 11 years (Lincoln was sworn in under a half-finished dome) and nearly nine million pounds of iron.
So, it would appear that Dan Brown was accurate about a couple of things (I won’t spoil it in case you’re waiting to read it). Anyone else reading it? What’s your opinion?
Comments (32)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
I went on a reading marathon bender and finished the book in two days. I loved the fast paced storyline and having been to Washington a few times, the familiarity of everything being described.
posted by Charlie on 9-22-2009 at 6:34 pm
I’m reading it right now. I find it very interesting. I like how he can add a lot of fiction to a little fact and make you think about things, and question what you think you know to be true.
posted by Tonya on 9-22-2009 at 6:35 pm
I haven’t read the book yet, but I plan to as soon as I can get my library books out of the way.
I went on a trip to DC this summer, and I got to go down to the tiny subway (although I was not, sadly, allowed to ride it). I also got to visit all of the buildings taller than the capitol, except the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The National Cathedral was amazing!
posted by band_nerd on 9-22-2009 at 7:49 pm
Typo in 5: “…taller than the Captiol.” That is all.
I’m waiting to read the book until Christmas, after my last semester of grad school is done.
posted by Tamsyn on 9-22-2009 at 8:11 pm
Finished that book last night. I can find no references to support Brown’s descriptions of the ‘eternal flame’ and the hole in the floor of the Rotunda. Anybody else heard of that ? Great book, though.
posted by THOMAS BONTE on 9-22-2009 at 8:13 pm
Just finished it today. I wasn’t as blown away as I was with the previous books about Langdon, but it was still a decent read.
posted by Andi on 9-22-2009 at 8:21 pm
Just finished the book yesterday. Without giving anything away, I wasn’t pleased with the ending. Seemed a bit corny.
posted by taylor on 9-22-2009 at 8:24 pm
I’ve ridden that subway. If you phone ahead to your congressman the next time you’re in DC, he will arrange a tour for you courtesy of one of his aides. They thrive on giving their constituents tours if it will more or less guarantee you remember his name at the booth next election.
Another interesting fact of the Capitol building– in the rotunda main room, you can whisper across the chamber quite clearly if you’re standing in the audial focal points of the room. Rumored (by the tour guide, so, who knows?) to be used by Jefferson to spy on Hamilton and vice versa during their rivalrous stints in Washington’s administration.
posted by Joel on 9-22-2009 at 8:33 pm
I, too have ridden the capitol subway, thank’s to my representative. And trust me, the tour the rep. got me in on was much better than the “Grayline tours” arranged tour. (As an aside, did you know that a banana shows up on x-ray machines with the same density as plastic explosives?)
posted by Vickey on 9-22-2009 at 9:23 pm
Whispering galleries are common features of domes and rotundas. The last time I was in London, we tried the one at the base of St. Paul’s dome.
I don’t know about the floor of the Capitol, but I do know that Brown made up his description of the floor of Rosslyn Chapel in the Da Vinci Code (among other things), so I’d be skeptical of any of his details.
posted by Ryan on 9-22-2009 at 10:04 pm
I was kinda “meh” on The Lost Symbol. Like a previous poster, I found the ending to be a bit of a stretch, and kind of corny. There were some parts I really liked, though I found other bits overly talky. I also had (correctly) guessed the final location visited by Langdon et. al. about 1/3 of the way into the book. Angels and Demons remains my favorite book by Dan Brown.
posted by Harry on 9-22-2009 at 11:03 pm
I interned in the capitol. these are not hidden secrets. in fact most people from the senate or house who give you a tour SHOULD know all of these things if not more. in fact they have no idea where the corner stone is. and not only are there subways but also many underground tunnels. The current dome was placed on the capitol during the civil war. The statue of freedom faces England.
posted by Kate on 9-23-2009 at 12:08 am
Also, Joel…
“the whisper spot” as it is called did not exist until the house chamber or the “statuary hall” as it is now called was redone. There would have been wood flooring (not marble) and the ceiling, chairs and other fabrics would have prevented the sound from traveling the way it does now. Its a nice story… but its not true… unfortunately.
posted by Kate on 9-23-2009 at 12:12 am
Just to clarify, the story that goes with the whisper spot may not be true, but it does work to be in one spot and speak softly and be heard clearly in another location. We tried it when my daughter was on her 8th grade field trip.
I have not yet read the book but look foward to it, in part because I like to read books about areas I am familiar with. Now that we live in the DC area, it may make it more interesting to me.
posted by Hyacinth on 9-23-2009 at 10:03 am
I work at The US Capitol and a lot of the things mentioned here are not availiable for visitors to see (for security purposes, you can’t just walk around willy nilly). The Crypt no longer has a gift shop since the Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) opened. I suggest getting a tour through the guide service (or The Red Coats as they are so derogatively called) because of the thorough training they receive.
posted by Neisha on 9-23-2009 at 12:00 pm
And I forgot to add something about #7: the building can’t be backwards as it does not have a back. The Mall side is referred to as the West Front and the side facing the Library of Congress and Supreme Court is the East Front. This is done for diplomatic purposes as you wouldn’t want to have to tell someone to go in through the back door.
posted by Neisha on 9-23-2009 at 12:05 pm
It’s always bugged me that the painting of the Surrender of Yorktown in the Rotunda shows Cornwallis handing over his sword to Washington. Thousands of tourists go through there and see an untruth :(
posted by Hastings on 9-23-2009 at 12:18 pm
@band_nerd I’ve not been up in the Washington Monument, but I have been in the basilica. Beautiful building. I didn’t know it’s taller than the Capitol.
posted by Tracie on 9-23-2009 at 12:37 pm
I just finished the book. I… am not a fan.
Robert Langdon is supposed to have learned some pretty amazing things in his previous adventures and yet he still utters things like, “That’s impossible!” as if his own personal history has taught him nothing. It’s like a person who suddenly grew wings and flew a few circles over the city now looking at someone who says they can run a 2 minute mile and saying, “Oh, come on now!”
And if I was a Harvard student, I’d be less than thrilled at how Dan Brown portrays the classroom. The dialogue is just…wow. Bad.
I also cringed every time someone would ask a question or was dying to know something and the character responding would make them work for the answer – all as part of a literary style. It’d be like someone asking “What’s the combination to the safe?” knowing that a child is inside suffocating and the response would be, “I’m shocked you haven’t figured that out yet! Take a look at this symbol…does it look familiar?” Ridiculous.
Having said all that – I, too, would like to write something this ridiculous and get paid for it as handsomely. That’s right. I can be bought.
So, start savin’ those pennies. :P
-R.
posted by Random Esquire on 9-23-2009 at 1:13 pm
I’ve only read the Da Vinci Code, and found it a dreadful book. I enjoyed this Quick 10 though.
posted by Dom on 9-23-2009 at 3:48 pm
So what’s the answer….was ther a hole in the floor of the rotunda? Was theor a flame directly under it
posted by Linda on 9-25-2009 at 1:55 pm
\A “crypt” is a chamber beneath the main floor. The Capitol Crypt’s general appearance has remained constant since the central section of the Capitol was finished in the 1820s, with the exception of a 10-foot hole that originally pierced the center of the ceiling. The hole was sealed in 1828 due to damp drafts that were damaging the paintings in the Rotunda.
Columns of Aquia Creek sandstone and arches support the Rotunda floor. During the early Civil War, the Crypt was used to store flour needed to bake bread for Union soldiers stationed in the nation’s capital.
The Crypt contains educational displays of the architectural and historical development of the Capitol, including one of the original sandstone column capitals from the East Front Portico.\
http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/tour/09.htm
posted by Turk186 on 9-25-2009 at 3:21 pm
I appreciate learning of the inaccuries of the book but I find it a good although sometimes an ‘over wordy’ read. I enjoy checking out which is fact or fiction – I wouldn’t have learnt as much as I have about the building otherwise. I’ve been to the Rotunda several times and will look at it with more interest next time I go.
The whuispering Gallery in St Paul’s Cathedral (London) does work!
posted by Felicity Wellings on 9-26-2009 at 11:09 am
I was last at the Capitol 15 years ago. We did the whispering in the Rotunda. It does work, and is very cool, especially to a group of eighth graders.
I read “The Lost Symbol” as well. It was okay. I had the final destination figured out early, too. I agree with Harry, “Angels and Demons” is the best Brown book to date.
posted by Amy D on 9-26-2009 at 12:10 pm
I did a six month, then later a one year assignment at the Pentagon. That place alone has many urban legends within its walls. Went to the Capitol many times pre 9/11 and was able to wander around to my heart’s content with one bit exception=going to the top of the dome. It can be done, by only if you’re escorted by a Representative or Senator (not an aide). Unfortunately, at the time I was there it was practically impossible for just a normal citizen to get a meeting with one of them as they were too busy meeting with PAC reps. BTW there is a complete story below the Rotunda floor with a marker which designates the center of Washington DC. Don’t remember seeing any hole though.
posted by Former Temp DC resident on 9-27-2009 at 12:31 am
Even though Dan Brown made up some of those things, it doesn’t take away from the greatness of the story. It really makes you think, even if it is fiction. I feel like I’ve learned a lot with each book. If a book can make a non-reader (Harry Potter aside) read AND do research, then he’s doing something right.
I grew up going to church at least twice a week every week for 15 years, and I learned more from reading The DaVinci Code (and researching the facts) than I did in 15 years of eating stale goldfish crackers (communion for kids) and falling asleep in a pew.
posted by AAAKnight on 9-29-2009 at 10:59 am
According to “Picturesque Washington: pen and pencil sketches of its scenery, history …” (by Joseph West Moore published in 1884, and available on Google books) there was a flame in the crypt and there really was a “Keeper of the Crypt”. It also mentions a hole was planned in the capitol rotunda, but doesn’t say if it was built or not!
posted by Jake on 10-3-2009 at 12:38 am
I just got back from Washington and took all the tours, the whispering spot they told us was where Adams desk was and he would pretend to be asleep yet he would be listening to what was being said?
I have read all of Browns books this one got me in trouble with the guide,I asked about the flame and the guide first asked if I was reading the book, then kept telling everyone that their was no flame,and kept winking at me SO i need to known was their a flame?
posted by joseph on 10-3-2009 at 3:35 pm
have you found out whether or not there was indeed an eternal flame in the capitol rotunda at one time? i keep trying a google search but come up with inconclusive results.
thanks
posted by Barb in MN on 10-8-2009 at 11:51 pm
This will tell you aboput the hole Thomas http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/tour/09.htm
posted by andy on 10-30-2009 at 11:48 am
Well – Dan Brown’s book has prompted me to do some research – The Apotheosis of Washington, the statue of Washington dressed and posed as Zeus… Didn’t know these things were real or existed until reading the book.
posted by PAM on 11-14-2009 at 11:31 pm
this is definitley not a source for school projects,reports, or to get essay facts on the U.S. Capitol Building! >:( >:( >:(
posted by Mariyah on 11-20-2009 at 12:57 pm