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The Old Senate Chamber is a room in the United States Capitol that was the legislative chamber of the United States Senate from 1810 to 1859 and served as the Supreme Court chamber from 1860 until 1935. It was designed in Neoclassical style and is elaborately decorated.〔"(The Old Senate Chamber )." Architect of the Capitol.〕 Restored in 1976 as part of United States Bicentennial celebrations, it is preserved as a museum and for the Senate's use.〔 ==Design and furnishings== Located north of the Capitol rotunda on the second floor of the north wing (the Senate side) of the Capitol, the semicircular two-story room is 50 feet wide and 75 feet long, with a half-domed ceiling.〔 The chamber is overlooked by two visitors' galleries. The Architect of the Capitol reports that the gallery on the east is "supported by eight Ionic columns of variegated marble quarried along the Potomac River", inspired by the Erechtheum of the Acropolis of Athens.〔 Directly above this gallery hangs an 1823 "porthole portrait" of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, which was purchased for display in the chamber in 1832 upon the centennial of Washington's birth.〔 The second gallery is the Ladies' Gallery, which follows the curved western wall and is much larger. The Ladies' Gallery is supported by 12 steel columns "encased in cast-iron forms with Corinthian capitals, which were designed to simulate the cast-iron originals." The gallery has a "wrought-iron balcony railing () follows the contour of the gallery and is backed by crimson fabric that accentuates the decorative metalwork."〔 On the dais in the center of the room is a curved table with "richly turned and carved legs and a crimson modesty screen" which serves as the desk of the President of the Senate (the Vice President of the United States). The crimson fabric is hung from a mahogany valence from a canopy overhead. The valence is below a carved gilt eagle and shield.〔 Directly in front of the Vice President's desk one tier down is "a larger desk of similar design," which was used by the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk.〔 A glass screen between the dais and a small lobby allowed Senators to relax but remain within earshot of the floor. In addition, there are two fireplace mantels on the east wall behind the screen, which are among the original piece of the chamber that remain today. Two other mantels on the lobby's north and south ends are replicas, as the originals were replaced with stoves when the chamber was converted for the use of the Supreme Court of the United States.〔 Radiating off the dais are desks and chairs for 64 Senators, which was the number of Senators at the time the Senate moved to its current quarters. The desks and chairs are located on four semicircular graduated platforms. When the Senate moved to its current chamber in 1859, it took the original furniture with it.〔 Many of the original desks remain in use today, including the Daniel Webster and Jefferson Davis desks. The desks and chairs that are in the chamber today are replicas reproduced from a circa 1819 design by the New York cabinetmaker Thomas Constantine. Like the originals, the furniture is mahogany.〔 Behind the last row of desks is a low paneled wall separating the center of the chamber from a visitors' area (the third visitor area in the chamber, along with the two visitors' galleries). The area has red-upholstered sofas and was originally "reserved for privileged visitors who gained admittance to the Chamber through the special invitation of a Senator."〔 On either side of the main doorway are niches for coal- or wood-burning stoves; the current stoves are reproductions.〔 The color scheme of crimson and gold, seen in the dais' decorations, can be seen elsewhere in the chamber as well, as in the "crimson drapery swags secured with gilt stars" in the visitors' galleries, crimson window treatments, and the carpet on the chamber floor, which is woven from long-staple virgin wool and has a "gold star pattern on a red background".〔 The domed ceiling of the chamber is painted white. The Architect of the Capitol describes it as "elaborately coffered and enriched by decorative moldings." In the center of the ceiling is a semicircular skylight, and around it are five smaller circular skylights.〔 The skylight originally allowed natural light in the chamber, but today they are artificially lit. A large brass chandelier made by Philadelphia's Cornelius and Company also provided light; a reproduction now hangs above the Vice President's desk.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Old Senate Chamber」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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