On this Monday morning in May, we found parking readily enough in a lot designated for lawmakers during the session and walked across the street to experience the image our statehouse is presenting to visitors.  As expected, we were subjected to a security screening before being allowed to enter.  The guard was friendly and personable.  After examining our photo IDs (the first state that has asked us to produce such), he chatted amiably with us about our home city before offering a few tips to guide our visit.  Positive first impression.
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Since we entered from the rear of the building (pictured above), our first stop was the ground floor, where we encountered a most unusual display—a recently recovered and highly prized piece of Georgia history on exhibit.  During the War of 1812, Georgian Lt. Col. Daniel Appling distinguished himself in the 15-minute Battle of Big Sandy Creek in upstate New York by leading an ambush attack on a superior force of British pursuing his troops.  Months later, the Georgia General Assembly commissioned a ceremonial sword of honor to be presented to Appling in recognition of his courage and ingenuity.  Unfortunately, the colonel died before he could receive the tribute, and legislators decided to retain the sword and display it in the governor’s office.
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After languishing in obscurity for nearly a century, the sword again became the center of attention as another legislature proudly sent the tribute and other treasured artifacts to be displayed in the Georgia exhibit at the 1906 Jamestown Exposition, a historic event commemorating the 300th anniversary of  the first permanent English settlement in the Virginia Colony.  Though there is no evidence to explain why, the sword was never returned after the exposition closed.  More than a century later, state archives officials, who had long pondered the weapon's fate, saw it advertised for sale in an antiques magazine in 2010.  Historical organizations and private citizens raised more than $100,000 to purchase the relic from a Pennsylvania antiques dealer and bring it home to Georgia.
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Other exhibits on the ground floor portrayed scenes from various geographical regions of Georgia.  These appeared to date from the 1970s or so and looked as if they hadn't had much attention since then.  They badly need some TLC.
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Georgia Capitol Dome interior

Moving up to the main floor, we had our first view of the rotunda and the very disappointing interior of the capitol dome.  Not only did this prominent architectural feature have no decorative design, the paint was peeling badly (while $100K was splurged on an old sabre!).  Contrast this dowdy unimaginative structure to some of the stunning dome interiors we saw in state capitols last year.
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Sadly, the disappointment did not stop there.  The Georgia capitol building is like an old home where nothing is ever removed.  More stuff is just added.  There's no revisionism here.  All aspects of state history are revered, no matter how misguided retrospection reveals some of the causes that are still celebrated.
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For example, Tom Watson, a nineteenth century legislator and journalist who was a vigorous antisemitic, anti-Catholic racist, is honored with a 12-foot bronze statue at the main entrance of the Capitol.  The statue's pedestal bears this tribute:  "A champion of right who never faltered in the cause."  Since Watson was an advocate of lynching and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan, this honorific begs the question of what the 'cause' was for which his steadfastness is praised.
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Schoolchildren pass a statue honoring Tom Watson to enter their state's capitol.

Inside the halls of the capitol, portraits of Georgians who served prominently in the Confederacy are interspersed with tributes to more recent state natives such as Martin Luther King, Jr.  Jimmy Carter, the only Georgia native to serve as President of the United States (and, incidentally, governor of the state), Carter is honored with a small life-size statue in a side garden near a poorly rendered replica of the Statue of Liberty donated by boy scouts in 1951.  As befitted his preference for informality, Carter is depicted in casual attire.
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No doubt the Presidential seal halo effect is just a coincidence.

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The fourth floor of the Georgia capitol building is described as the Georgia State Museum.  We found that to be a bit of a stretch.  Less like a stately government repository than a run-down flea market, the "museum" is crammed with a mishmash of odd artifacts and specimens dragged from some old attic or barn.  Perhaps nothing portrays this better than the two-headed calf head, mounted on a plaque, no less.

The favorite exhibit of many a school child visiting the capitol on a field trip

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Begun in 1896, the state museum opened with items from the previous year's Cotton States Exposition displayed in corridors of the statehouse.  The popularity of these exhibits led to the addition of more memorabilia, creating an eclectic assortment of artifacts, geologic materials, firearms and other assorted detritus.  The exhibit cases appear to date from the early days of this collection.
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Exhibit cases which would be right at home in any antique flea market

In the late 1990s, the Georgia capitol building underwent a massive restoration, a project that sought to return the interior to its appearance soon after its original completion in 1889.  Untold thousands were frittered away to identify the building's authentic historic paint colors, only to allow the paint to chip away within 15 years.  The capitol needs a serious updating guided by the hands of professional archivists who will organize portraiture in logical historical sequence, downplay the glorification of the Confederacy, and add dignity to exhibits by eliminating sensationalist oddities.

As the eighth most populous state and one of the original thirteen colonies, Georgia has produced some notable and notorious characters. We need a statehouse which focuses on positive aspects of Georgia such as the accomplishments of the home-grown Carter and King Centers rather than the current miasma that is designed to pander to those who love Honey Boo Boo.  At least her portrait hasn't made its way to the halls of the statehouse...yet.

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• Atlanta metro population:  5.3 million (most populous state capitol metro)
• Built:  1884-1889
• Cost:  $999,882 (slightly under $1 million budget)
• Architectural style:  Classical Renaissance
• Dome surface:  23 k Georgia gold
• Exterior:  Indiana limestone
• Building height:  272 ft (to top of dome)
• Taller buildings than capitol in Atlanta, 1889:  0
• Taller buildings than capitol in Atlanta, 2013:  60
• Statue on top of dome:  Goddess of Liberty (aka, Miss Freedom)
• Conjoined animals on exhibit in capitol:  2 (calf and snake)

A skylight added to the floor of the rotunda to illuminate offices on the floor below.

Often the scene of protests and speeches, the Georgia capitol is nicknamed the People's House.

Georgia founder James Oglethorpe overlooks the grand staircase in the north wing.

Statues of Senator Richard Russell (L) and Civil War era Governor Joseph Brown and his wife