City: Santa Fe, NM

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (505) 986-4589

Description: The New Mexico State Capitol, nicknamed the Roundhouse for its circular shape, was built in 1966 and remodeled at a cost of $34 million in 1992. The architectural design comes from the Ziá Pueblo sun sign or circle of life, the same symbol you’ll notice on New Mexico’s red-and-yellow state flag. The current capitol is New Mexico’s fourth, following the Palace of the Governors and a downtown building constructed in 1887 and reconstructed in 1890 after it burned.The capitol has four levels, three above ground. In the basement (not open to the public) are the House and Senate chambers. The second floor, at ground level, contains a visitor information office and the rotunda, where visitors find changing art exhibits. The floor of the rotunda displays the state seal. All of the semiprecious stones decorating the seal and the marble of the surrounding walls and floor were mined in New Mexico. Old photographs of past legislators line the walls of the third-floor House and Senate galleries, the area where visitors may watch laws being made. During the legislative sessions—the 30-day financial session and 60-day general session in alternating years—the Roundhouse is filled with students on field trips, lobbyists, and interested residents who come to observe their elected representatives in action. The legislature convenes beginning at noon on the second Tuesday in January.On the fourth floor, the Governor’s Gallery features art by New Mexicans in exhibits that rotate often. Walls elsewhere in the building display paintings, photographs, weaving, and mixed-media work by some of New Mexico’s best-known artists. On the capitol grounds, you’ll find monumental sculptures by Allan Houser, Glenna Goodacre, and others. Docents offer free guided tours by appointment; call (505) 986-4589. The capitol is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.