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The Restoration of the United States Capitol Dome (33 photos)

Beginning in 2013, the Architect of the Capitol began an enormous restoration of the dome of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Earlier this month, the restoration was completed, at a cost of $59.5 million. More than a thousand cracks were repaired, interior and exterior decorations scraped, cleaned, and restored, and 1,215 gallons of paint were used to repaint the dome exterior. Collected here are some images from the 1860s when the current dome was originally built, some images of the recent restoration process, and a few shots of the newly-restored structure.