Capitol Visitor Center about to open

Washington — Three years behind schedule and almost $360 million above budget, the Capitol Visitor Center is preparing to open its doors to millions of tourists who now must endure long lines without food, restrooms or shelter to catch a glimpse of the halls of Congress.

The underground center, the largest single construction project in the Capitol’s two-century history in terms of size and expense, is to open to the public on Dec. 2. The final cost of the project is put at $621 million, more than double the $265 million estimated cost had the center been completed on schedule in December 2005.

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Susan Walsh/STF

The Capitol Dome is visible through the skylights of the new Capitol Visitor Center on Capitol Hill in Washington.

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Susan Walsh/STF

A plaster model of the Statue of Freedom, which was used to cast the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol Dome, is the centerpiece in Emancipation Hall.

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For the three million tourists who visit the Capitol every year, the facility is long overdue. People now form lines at the bottom of Capitol Hill and wait in the heat, the cold and the rain to sign up for tours. Then they must trek up the hill to enter the building.

With the Capitol Visitor Center, located below ground between the Capitol and the Supreme Court, visits will begin in the vast Emancipation Hall filled with statues moved from the Capitol and a model of the Statue of Freedom that is perched above the Rotunda. The actual Capitol Dome looms overhead through skylights. Dec. 2 is the 145th anniversary of the raising of the statue atop the Dome.

Before beginning tours of the Capitol itself, people can stroll through an exhibition hall with historic documents, artifacts and interactive computers, see shows in two theaters and eat at a 530-seat restaurant area. There are two gift shops and 26 public restrooms, compared to five inside the Capitol.

Among the artifacts are a letter from George Washington to the Continental Congress reporting the defeat of the British at Yorktown, Va., Franklin Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech and John Kennedy’s message to Congress proposing travel to the moon.

Also on view is the catafalque, the raised bier first built to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln and since used when leaders such as John F. Kennedy, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Ronald Reagan have lain in state in the Rotunda.

IF YOU GO

• Visitors will be able to book tours of the Capitol in advance at www.visitthecapitol.gov, a Web site to open Friday, or by phone, 202-226-8000.