Description

The 1994 Capitol Bicentennial Silver Dollar was issued to mark the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC. The Capitol Building had already been featured on some of the 1989 Congress Commemorative Coins and would appear again on the 2001 Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Coins.

The United States Capitol features a dome situated above its rotunda. The dome is 288 feet (88 m) in height and 96 feet (29 m) in diameter. It was designed by Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol, and constructed between 1855 and 1866.

The dome is not stone, but rather cast iron carefully painted to appear to be made of the same stone as the main capitol building. It is actually two domes, one inside the other, and the total weight is 9.1 million pounds (4,100 t).