The Capitol Columns

For more than a century, 24 massive sandstone columns stood along the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol, framing presidential inaugurations and helping define the building’s grand public face. When the Capitol was expanded in the 1950s, the columns were removed and left in storage along the Potomac, where they slowly deteriorated. After years of preservation efforts and bureaucratic wrangling, 22 of them were eventually installed at the U.S. National Arboretum, where the (0:28) National Capitol Columns now stand alone on a grassy hill, looking almost like the ruins of an ancient civilization.

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