Maine State House View 1

A one-of-a-kind, 4x5-inch tintype on aluminum made via the 19th-century wet plate collodion photographic process.

Maine became a state in 1820 and began constructing the capital in 1829 in Augusta. It opened in 1832. A gilt copper statue of Minerva, the draped female figure of Wisdom, by William Clark Noble of Gardiner, Maine surmounts the dome. The House of Representatives occupies the third and fourth floors of the north wing and the Senate chambers occupy similar quarters in the south wing. The governors office is tucked under the stairs on the second floor.