The Texas Capitol is not just an office building.  It is an architectural shrine to the principles on which Texas government is founded.  The recent talk about removing the monument containing the Ten Commandments only emphasizes the religious nature of the building itself.  But it is not just the statues and adornments placed around the Capitol that give it a religious character.  The actual architectural DNA of the building reflects its religious underpinnings. 

The footprint of the Texas Capitol reflects the religious nature of its architecture.  The two primary axes form a cross, the basic shape of most early Christian cathedrals.  The cross shape was brought into Gothic architecture and later domes were placed prominently over the point at which the main axes intersected at 90 degree angles. 

It is here, at the intersection of the north-south and east-west axes, that the rotunda takes on its role as the center of activity for people.  It is the most stately and dignified space in the Capitol, a place to gather and listen, a place to watch and reflect, a place for balance and symmetry.