Rotunda
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You are now standing in the Rotunda, around which the building is organized. The building is designed around an imaginary 100' sphere.
It is 75' in diameter and nearly 40' tall. There are 8 marble columns, which are nearly 4' in diameter and stand 34' tall. They are made of Cremo de la Cotta marble from quarries in Carrara, Italy, which are the same quarries from which Michelangelo obtained the marble for his great works.
There are over 300 pieces of marble, which are arranged so that the vein pattern and color are perfectly matched.
Patterned after an ancient mariner's compass, the floor design incorporates Alabama marble, Italian Cremo de la Cotta, and Fior Pesca, with a center piece of polished metal in the shape of Alabama. It is placed so that the lines describing the two major axes of the building cross at the location of Montgomery, the capital city.
The marble was mined in Carrara, Italy, where Michelangelo obtained his marble. The rare blue marble circle surrounding the Alabama-shaped centerpiece was a gift from the quarry. The only Alabama marble is within the ring and outside of the map of Alabama, which is in the center. The map of Alabama points north.
From here, you can see the courtyard and water streaming over a wall of "Absolute Black" granite from Africa.
Flanking the courtyard are trellises supported on limestone columns, providing a shady pergola for outdoor sitting.
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