Alabama State Capitol

Friday 11 April
After a lovely breakfast at our Bed and Breakfast, first on our itinerary was the State Capitol. It differs to other state Capitol buildings in that the Alabama Legislature does not meet there, but at the Alabama State House across the road. The Capitol has the governor’s office, and otherwise functions as a museum. The current building was completed in 1851, and additional wings were added over the course of the following 140 years. A striking feature as you enter the main stair-hall are the twin cantilevered spiral staircases, which spiral up to the third floor. They were designed and built by architect Horace King, a former slave who was freed in 1846. Due to his renown in Alabama and surrounding states as a bridge builder, the Alabama legislature passed a special law that exempted him from the state’s manumission laws, which normally required any freed slave to leave the state within one year of gaining their freedom. Other highlights of the building are the rotunda, and the eight painted murals under the dome, created by Roderick MacKenzie, a Scottish-born artist, who relocated to the American South.
I’ve added a second collage of other Montgomery sights and memorials we saw