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U.s. capitol & capitol visitor center, the capitol visitor center is the main entrance to the u.s. capitol and is located below the east front plaza of the capitol between constitution and independence avenues.

The Capitol Visitor Center is the main entrance to the U.S. Capitol and is located below the East Front plaza of the Capitol between Constitution and Independence Avenues. The Visitor Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.mm., Monday through Saturday. It is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Inauguration Day. Guided tours of the Capitol are available Monday through Saturday, 8:50 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. Tours are free, but tour passes are required. Tours may be booked in advance online at www.visitthecapitol.gov , through the offices of your senators or representative, or through the Office of Visitor Services at 202.226.8000. A limited number of same-day passes are available each day. The Capitol Visitor Center also features a 500-seat Restaurant, two Gift Shops, and an Exhibition Hall which tells the story of the U.S. Congress and the Capitol. For a list of items prohibited in the Capitol, and for other information, go to www.visitthecapitol.gov .

• ADA Compliant
• Foreign Language Guides
• Free Admission
• Guided tours available

Additional Information

Length of tour.

Less than 1 hour

Metro Station

Capitol South

E Capitol St. & 1st St. NE Washington , DC 20004 United States

(202) 226-8000.

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Know Before You Go

Visitor guidelines, prohibited items, visiting faqs, travel information, hours and info, emergency evacuation information.

Coming to the Capitol? Join our staff as they walk you through what to expect during your visit.

Know Before You Go from U.S. Capitol Visitor Center

Welcome to Washington, DC, the nation’s capital. You will find an abundance of cultural, educational, and just plain fun attractions and events here. Start your trip planning with the useful resources below.

United States Congress

U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Book a tour, look at a Capitol map and find other useful information. The mission of the Visitor Center at the U.S. Capitol is to provide a welcoming and educational environment for visitors to learn about the unique characteristics of the House and the Senate and the legislative process as well as the history and development of the architecture and art of the U.S. Capitol.

Map of Capitol Grounds The Capitol, House and Senate office buildings.

Map of Accessible Transportation at the Capitol Accessible entrances and transportation servicing the Capitol and surrounding buildings.

Virtual Tour of Capitol Explore the nation's Capitol, including the old and current House chambers.

Library of Congress

Each of “America’s Library buildings”, named for a U.S. President (Adams, Jefferson, and Madison), contains millions of cataloged books and other print materials on 530 miles of shelving is a world-renowned research center for scholars easily accessible to both Congress and the public. Special exhibitions —including a permanent display of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type—make the Library a favorite tourist attraction. First Street and Independence Avenue, SE.

Supreme Court of the United States

“Equal Justice Under Law” is the promise on the portals of the Supreme Court building.Court sessions begin the first Monday in October and continue two weeks per month through April. Courtroom seats are available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis when the Court is in session. Twenty-minute courtroom lectures are available every hour on the half-hour when the court is not in session. Group tours are available and must be made in advance. First and East Capitol Streets, NE.

United States Botanic Garden

Located at the base of Capitol Hill, the conservatory features more than 20,000 plants, including exotic flowers and fruit species. First Street and Maryland Avenue, SW.

An official website of the United States government

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U.S. Capitol Visitor Center

Take a tour of the historic Capitol, where you can see the Crypt of the Capitol, the Rotunda, and National Statuary Hall.

Phone number

1-202-226-8000

Main address

Have a question.

Ask a real person any government-related question for free. They will get you the answer or let you know where to find it.

The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington DC: Tours & Visiting Tips

Explore the meeting chambers for the Senate & the House of Representatives

 TripSavvy / Taylor McIntyre

United States Capitol

The U.S. Capitol Building, the meeting chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives, is one of the most recognizable historic buildings in Washington, D.C. Located at the opposite end of the National Mall from the Washington Monument, it is a prominent landmark and an impressive example of 19th-century neoclassical architecture. A complete restoration of the Capitol Dome was finished in 2016, fixing more than 1,000 cracks and giving the structure a beautiful polished appearance.

With 540 rooms divided among five levels, the U.S. Capitol is a massive structure. The ground floor is allocated to congressional offices. The second floor holds the chambers of the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing. Under the dome in the center of the Capitol Building is the Rotunda, a circular space that serves as a gallery of paintings and sculptures of American historical figures and events. The third floor is where visitors can watch the proceedings of Congress when in session. Additional offices and machinery rooms occupy the fourth floor and the basement.

Visiting the U.S. Capitol

Capitol Visitor Center: The facility opened in December 2008 and greatly enhances the experience of visiting the U.S. Capitol. While waiting for tours, visitors can browse galleries displaying artifacts from the Library of Congress and National Archives, touch a 10-foot model of the Capitol Dome and even watch live video feeds from the House and Senate. Tours begin with a 13-minute film exploring the history of the Capitol and Congress, shown in the facility's orientation theaters. The center is currently closed with tentative plans to reopen to a limited number of guests on May 30, 2022.

Guided Tours: Tours of the historic U.S. Capitol building are free, but require tickets which are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The hours are 8:45 a.m - 3:30 p.m. Monday - Saturday. Visitors can book tours in advance at www.visitthecapitol.gov . After more than two years, tours resumed in a limited capacity on March 28, 2022. Groups are limited to 15 people and tours must be reserved online in advance. Tours run Monday through Friday and visitors will be following pre-approved routes.

Watching Congress in Session: Visitors can see Congress in action at the Senate and House Galleries (when in session) Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Passes are required and may be obtained from the offices of Senators or Representatives. International visitors can receive Gallery passes at the House and Senate Appointment Desks on the upper level of the Capitol Visitor Center. This offering is currently unavailable with no announced date to resume.

Capitol Complex and Grounds

In addition to the Capitol Building, six Congressional office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings make up Capitol Hill . The U.S. Capitol grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (also known for designing Central Park and the National Zoo), and include more than 100 varieties of trees and bushes and thousands of flowers that are used in seasonal displays. The U. S. Botanic Garden , the oldest botanic garden in the country, is a part of the Capitol complex and is a great place to visit year-round.

Annual Events on the West Lawn

During the summer months, popular concerts are held on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Thousands attend the Memorial Day Concert, A Capitol Fourth and the Labor Day Concert. During the holiday season, members of Congress invite the public to attend the lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree.

The main entrance is located on the East Plaza between Constitution and Independence Avenues. (across from the Supreme Court). See a map of the Capitol.

The closest Metro stations are Union Station and Capitol South. See a map and directions to the National Mall

Key Facts About the U.S. Capitol

• Construction of the U.S. Capitol began in 1793. The original building, completed in 1826, was made of brick clad in sandstone. The north and south wings and connecting corridors added in the mid 19th century and the replica of the East Front constructed in the 20th century, are made of brick clad in marble. The dome is made of cast iron. 
• The Capitol is 88 feet above sea level (the top of the Washington Monument is 209 feet higher than the top of the Capitol Building).
• There are 100 statues in the Statuary Hall Collection , two from each state.
• The largest statue in the Statuary Hall Collection is the statue of King Kamehameha I, donated by the state of Hawaii. It is 9'-10" tall and stands on a 3'-6" granite base.
• The Rotunda is a circular room in the center of the building beneath the Capitol dome. It is the tallest part of the building, 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet from the floor to the canopy.
• Atop the U.S. Capitol dome is the Statue of Freedom , a classical female figure with long, flowing hair wearing a helmet with a crest composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. She stands on a pedestal on a globe encircled with the motto E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one).
• Official Website: www.aoc.gov

Attractions Near the U.S. Capitol Building

• U. S. Botanic Garden
• The Supreme Court
• The Library of Congress
• Union Station
• Eastern Market
• Folger Shakespeare Library & Theatre

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Red Bull Formula 1 team turns Washington's iconic Pennsylvania Ave into a race track

WASHINGTON — Thousands of fans lined up along Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday for the thrill of watching a Formula 1 race-winner blast down the iconic street in a championship-winning car.

The event was hosted on a breezy spring afternoon by reigning F1 champions Oracle Red Bull Racing as part of a series of events in American cities designed to bring the world’s fastest race cars closer to the sport’s fastest growing fanbase .

The main event featured F1 race-winner and former Red Bull driver David Coulthard. The retired driver, who goes by “DC,” raced the RB7 car — in which Sebastian Vettel won the 2011 title — down the street between the Capitol building and White House, the same area that gets blocked off for presidential inaugurations.

Crowds packed the spectator zones for a good view, cheering and smelling burnt rubber as Coulthard hit the throttle in a car that goes over 200 miles an hour, some of them covering their ears as the engine revved up.

“It’s exciting!” said Ron Binkauskas, who flew to Washington from Kentucky for the event and watched in the VIP zone. “You don’t realize from TV just how fast these cars are, and how loud they are.”

Coulthard told NBC News that he was most excited to drive alongside “the iconic images” of Washington and said he would “love” to see an F1 street race in the nation’s capital.

“For many years, Formula 1 under its previous management tried to sort of find a foothold in America to have a true world championship. America is such an important and powerful country,” Coulthard said. “The American owners, Liberty [Media], have understood very well the American market ... and they’ve opened it up and made the paddock more accessible. I think, previously, the sport was quite sort of elitist and had the barriers up. And it was very difficult for people to connect. But that has really changed and the audience has just gone [up].”

James Smith, who lives in the district, took some time off work to see the show — and to see an F1 car in person for the first time.

“I’m just a fan of the Red Bull team and it’s not every day that they come to this part of town. So it’s something I want to see,” he said.

Smith got into F1 by watching "Drive to Survive" on Netflix.

"I watched it during covid a lot with some of my friends," he said. "And Red Bull was really heavily featured. So that’s how I got into the team.”

The popular documentary that premiered in 2019 is widely credited, including by F1 drivers and team bosses, for fueling the sport’s growth and bringing in more American fans.

But this year is a crucial time for the sport in the U.S., a test of whether it can keep growing — or even sustain its new fans.

Between 2018 and 2023, ESPN s ays viewership doubled from 554,000 to 1.11 million per race. But in 2023, it ticked down slightly from its peak of 1.21 million in 2022, which the network attributes in part to the record-smashing inaugural Miami Grand Prix that year.

One of the goals of the sport is to make it more accessible.

Red Bull’s two-day event included a zone nearby on Friday and Saturday for fans to test out the Red Bull “simulators,” which the drivers use to hone their craft, to practice pit stops by changing tires the way the professionals do at races and to buy merch. Along with Red Bull race suits, plenty of fans were decked out in gear of other F1 teams — most notably Ferrari and McLaren.

That includes Corey Jean Gartenhaus, of Washington, whose favorite driver is Lando Norris of McLaren.

“I actually had a calendar invite on my calendar today blocked off, and it said that I’m going to F1 DC. And my boss was like, that’s really awesome,” she said. “You watch it on TV and to feel it in real life and feel the vibrations of the engine and everything like that. It’s just a very different experience.”

The event brought out old and new Formula 1 fans, too.

“I am one of the biggest Formula 1 and racing fans and this is one of the biggest events that we’ve had in the district,” said Charles Kurtis, who has worked at go-kart tracks in the Washington area.Sebastian Fleischer, a racing driver and motorsports fan in Maryland, said he’s been a Formula 1 fan “forever” — at least since Michael Schumacher was dominating in a Ferrari two decades ago.

“It’s really great to see how much growth and how big the sport has gotten in the United States, having three Grand Prix now,” he said, referring to the races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas — more than any other country hosts.

Kiana Parzizi, a self-described “Ferrari girl” who is a fan of Charles Leclerc, said she brought her roommate to the event because “I wanted to show my roommate what the F1 world was like and hopefully get her to watch a couple races.”

The showrun took place the same day that Red Bull’s defending F1 champion, Max Verstappen, scored the team’s 100th pole position ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. Verstappen is dominating the sport, winning a record-breaking 19 of 22 races last year, and three of the first four races in 2024. Although longtime F1 fans have learned to love the sport through eras of dominance — which never last — many newer fans have not. They want to see competition.

Coulthard said he takes “the view that sport is about being the best” and periods of dominance are inevitable when one team gets it right. But he said Americans have plenty of reasons to love F1.

“This represents the very best and technology,” Coulthard said. “And if we look at the world we live in today, most people have a mobile phone or a laptop, and of course you want the latest and greatest because it just enhances your performance experience. What you have in Formula 1 is the fastest, most technologically advanced racing car series in the world.”

Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

Owen Hayes is an associate producer for the NBC News Washington bureau.