The New Capitol

Visitor Center

For those of you taking trips to Washington, DC in 2009 and planning on touring our nation’s Capitol building you may notice a particularly large change. That’s right; the new Capitol Visitor Center is now open. The completion of this project will drastically improve Iowans’ visit to our nation’s capital by stream-lining the ticketing and security process in addition to providing a dynamic, hands-on and robust learning experience for both veteran and novice tourists.

The CVC is a 580,000 square foot underground addition to the Capitol building. This expansion was built keeping in mind the original architecture of the Capitol and the materials were selected so as to fit with look of the already existing building. Furthermore those visiting will have the opportunity to see museum-like exhibits, photos and models of the progression of the Capitol building, educational videos, historic founding documents and a 13-minute video introduction to the Capitol Building itself, which has received high praise from many in Congress. In addition to the educational functions of the CVC, construction included a restaurant for guests as well as additional restroom facilities.

Given the extra space and facilities of the CVC the Capitol is now more accessible to those visiting the District. Iowan’s can now book Capitol tours on their own by visiting the CVC’s reservation website: http://tours.visitthecapitol.gov/. Moreover, tours can now be booked anywhere from three months to one day in advance of the desired tour date. Tours can be booked for up to 10 people, however if your group is larger than 10 you will be asked to arrange multiple tours though your group can reunite after passing through security.

With the advent of the CVC, our office will be directing our prospective visitors to make reservations at the CVC website in order to give Iowans the most hassle-free and professionally-given tour possible. Tours booked through the CVC will be led by the professional historians of the Capitol Guide service who are specifically trained in Capitol and Congressional history as well as safety procedures.

We believe that with the opening of the CVC, our constituents will have a much more pleasant and relaxing Capitol experience; the days of long lines in narrow tunnels, haphazard tour routes and security bottlenecks are over.

While we suggest making tour reservations through the Capitol Visitor Center, as always we look forward to seeing many Iowans in the nation’s capital in the upcoming year and we hope that many of you will access your Capitol Building using the new Capitol Visitor Center. For more information on the new Visitor’s Center, feel free to contact my Des Moines office at 515-282-1909, or go to my website at www.boswell.house.gov