Capitol Visitor Center Debut Again Delayed

Not this one.

Capable of holding 8,000 people, the center includes a Great Hall in which will stand the 19-foot, 150-year-old plaster statue of Freedom that was the model for the bronze atop the Capitol dome. The model has been in the basement rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building since 1993.

The hall, now almost finished, is rimmed by balconies and has a 30-foot ceiling and two mammoth skylights through which the Capitol dome can be seen from the underground space.

From the Great Hall, visitors will be able to enter a 450-seat dining area, two orientation theaters -- one each for the House and Senate -- a 450-seat congressional auditorium and a historical exhibition hall.

The high-tech exhibition hall, designed by New York museum designer Ralph Applebaum, will feature displays of artifacts and documents, a 12-foot-tall cutaway model of the rotunda and dome and an amber-color glass floor.

The auditorium, originally designed for screenings of the Library of Congress's film collection, evolved into a state-of-the-art venue for Congress, officials said.

Building materials have been impressive, too.

"The facility's designed for 100 years," Henderer said during a recent tour of the site. "So we picked materials, and designed things, that will endure for a long period. Materials that are appropriate to the Capitol, materials you find in the Capitol."

Even the historical artifacts will be top shelf: the original typescript of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor "Day of Infamy" speech, George Washington's letter to Congress announcing his victory at Yorktown during the Revolutionary War, writings by legendary 19th-century senators Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun.

In the end, the center will be "a magnificent structure," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), who has pushed for the facility for years. "It's going to be around and complement the Capitol for ages."

Landrieu said at a subcommittee hearing Friday that she, too, has been struck by the grandeur of the facility. "I have no doubt that once this building opens, it will be a tremendous source of pride to all who visit here," she said.

But critics, including Democratic and Republican lawmakers, say the center is overpriced and unnecessary: Costs have skyrocketed with the hundreds of add-ons, some of the most elegant of which are for Congress. The work pace has seemed plodding.