Capitol Glass

I’ve always loved stained glass whether it is in a church or a public building.  Just like with quilts it is the colors and shapes that pull my eyes to it.  I don’t know which came first – my love of quilts or my love of stained glass.  I see quilts in stained glass and I see stained glass in quilts!

On my recent trip I visited the (New) Mississippi State Capitol twice.  The first time I did the self-guided tour and afterwards realized that I needed the guided tour to see everything, so I returned again at a time when I could catch the tour.  I’m so glad I did because this building and its stained glass is something to behold!

This is the ceiling of one of the hallways.  I knew I would fall on my face if I tried to walk while looking up, so I just stopped!

These three panels at the top of the Capitol’s main staircase recently were removed and underwent an extensive renovation.  I vaguely remember seeing them on a previous visit to the Capitol in December 2002 and they were rather dull.  They still caught my eye and I commented on them to my Dad and he agreed that they were quite impressive.  There were a lot of people in the Capitol that day so I couldn’t get too close.

These three panels were designed by Louise Millet of Chicago and are located on the first landing of the grand staircase. They represent three iconic figures of the state: the American Indian, Mississippi, and the pioneer.  They were hard to photograph because of their location, but I did get this detail of the pioneer – isn’t he still handsome after all these  years?