California State Capitol Museum

Welcome to California State Capitol Museum

The California State Capitol Museum hosts numerous activities and exhibits throughout the year.

The State Capitol Museum is open daily and offers free tours hourly; self-guided tours are also available.

This 19th-century granite building, modeled after the U.S. Capitol, is home to the California Legislature and houses a public museum.

At the State Capitol, the past, present and future of California interact with equal force. The building serves as both a museum and the state's working seat of government. Visitors to the Capitol can at once experience California's rich history and witness the making of history through the modern lawmaking process.

The Capitol Building

In 1854, the state legislature had finally settled on Sacramento as the location for the state's capitol. With the location set, the legislature decided to build a proper capitol building to house the state's government.

A local architect named Reuben Clark drew the original plans for the building that were approved by the legislature. The plans contained space for all three branches of the state government: legislative, executive and judicial.

The legislature set aside $500,000 in 1860 to build the capitol. When it was finally finished in 1874, the final cost was about $2.45 million. Today that would be more than 46 million dollars!

Capitol ParkCapitol Park is comprised of 40 acres and spans twelve city blocks. The park includes hundreds of species of trees, shrubs, and flowers and numerous monuments and memorials.

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