The U.S. Capitol: The Rotunda Trivia Quiz

Answer: 180 feet

Though the Capitol dome tops out at 289 feet, the Rotunda itself is a mere 180 feet. Still, that's taller than all but ten buildings in Washington, D.C.

Answer: "The Apotheosis of Washington" by Constantino Brumudi

Constantino Brumidi was an Italian-born painter who worked for three years in the Vatican under Pope Gregory XVI before emigrating to the United States in 1852. "The Apotheosis of Washington" took him 11 months to complete. As for the others, "Landing of Columbus" is a large painting hanging on the wall of the Rotunda, and the other two are sculptures adorning the East Front of the Capitol.

Answer: The first flight at Kitty Hawk (1903)

Constantino Brumudi's original design for the panorama ended with the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, but due to a miscalculation early in the process, there was a 31-foot gap left when his original plans were completed, allowing for more recent events to be added later, including a Civil War scene, a Spanish-American War naval battle, and the first flight. And even if the artist had wanted to include a World War I battle to the frieze, he certainly would not have chosen the Battle of Verdun, which was fought more than a year before the U.S. entered the conflict!

Answer: John Adams

The statues of Washington and Garfield are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, a collection of 100 statues, two from each state, commemorating noteworthy figures in American history. Washington represents Virginia; Garfield, Ohio. The statue of Jefferson was a gift to the Capitol by Jefferson Levy, and is the only work of art in the Capitol given by a private donor instead of a state or commissioned by Congress. And while Adams has no statue, he can be seen in the Rotunda in John Trumbull's painting "The Declaration of Independence."

Answer: Gerald R. Ford

All U.S. Presidents are entitled to lie in state, though not every President accepts the honor. Those who have include Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Warren Harding, William Howard Taft, John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Ford.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

While inaugural ceremonies are usually held in front of the Capitol, Reagan's second inauguration was moved indoors due to record cold temperatures. Taft and Madison were also inaugurated in the Capitol, but not in the Rotunda.

Answer: Pope Benedict XVI, to welcome him to the United States

While both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed resolutions welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, no ceremony was held at the Capitol to greet him.

Answer: "The Battle of Lexington"

The fourth of Trumbull's paintings is "Surrender of Lord Cornwallis." The Battle of Lexington is part of the historical panorama on the frieze of the Rotunda.

Answer: "Baptism of Pocahantas" by John Gadsby Chapman

Chapman's painting was commissioned for the Rotunda in 1837, and symbolized the then-popular belief that American Indians should should accept Christianity and other western ways. "The Battle of Lake Erie, 1813" and "Signing of the Constitution" both hang elsewhere in the Capitol; the former is in the Senate wing, the latter in the House wing. "William Penn's Treaty with the Indians" is not a painting at all, but a sandstone relief sculpture above the north door of the Rotunda.

Answer: Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr.

Congress voted in 1982 to honor Dr. King and his "contributions on such matters as the historic legislation of the 1960s affecting civil rights and the right to vote" with a bust in the Capitol; sculptor John Wilson of Boston was commissioned to create the work, which was installed in the Rotunda and unveiled on January 16, 1986, the fifty-seventh anniversary of Dr. King's birth.

The other three can be seen in works of art found elsewhere in the Capitol: Attucks in a fresco depicting the Boston Massacre in the Senate Appropriations Committee Room; Bruce in a portrait hanging in the Senate wing; and Rainey in a mural in the House wing.