25 March 2019 | Author/Destination: North America / Nordamerika | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Barack Obama’s 2009 Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol © flickr.com – Steve Jurvetson/cc-by-2.0
The United States Capitol, often called the
Capitol Building, is the home of the
United States Congress, and the seat of the
legislative branch of the
U.S. federal government. It is located on
Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the
National Mall in
Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the
Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the District’s street-numbering system and
the District’s four quadrants. The
United States Capitol Complex is a group of about a dozen buildings and facilities. The
United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), located below the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, between the Capitol building and 1st Street East, opened on December 2, 2008.
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27 November 2013 | Author/Destination: North America / Nordamerika | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Lincoln Memorial by night © flickr.com – CrashingWaves/cc-by-2.0
Washington, D.C., formally the
District of Columbia and commonly referred to as
Washington,
“the District”, or simply
D.C., is the capital of the United States. The signing of the
Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a
capital district located along the
Potomac River on the country’s
East Coast. As permitted by the
U.S. Constitution, the District is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
United States Congress and is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. The states of
Maryland and
Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the preexisting settlements of
Georgetown and
Alexandria; however,
Congress returned the Virginia portion in 1846. Named in honor of
George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. Congress created a
single municipal government for the whole District of Columbia after the
American Civil War.
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