Capitolio Nacional

National Capitol building began in 1847, by law enacted by President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, is located on the south side of the Plaza de Bolívar. It is the best work of republican period in Colombia and one of the most valuable architectural buildings in Bogota. Whole structure is made of stone masonry and construction took 78 years (1847-1926). In his office were: the author, the Danish architect Thomas Reed, until 1880, that year, and continues the work the Florentine Pietro Cantini until 1908, the Frenchman Gaston Lelarge and end the architect Alberto Manrique Martín.
The building has three floors, a basement and four courtyards reminiscent Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, Rafael Nuñez and Alvaro Gomez H. Additionally, it has 4 main rooms (Elliptical, Boyaca, Exhibition Hall of the Senate and the Constitution).

The central block is occupied the Oval Room which holds the joint session of Congress (Senate and House) and develop the plenary of the House of Representatives (Lower House), is given possession of the President of the Republic and is performed election of members of the High Courts among others.
Its design is distinguished by its Ionic columns that make up the main gate, its construction was initially commissioned Dutch architect Thomas Reed, who was succeeded by Mariano Sanz de Santamaria Bogota, and from 1881 the Italian Pietro Cantini.

In 1904, President Rafael Reyes continued to work with Cantini, who, by resigning was replaced by French architect Gastón Lelarge, who proposed adding a large central dome, that idea was welcomed, because from the beginning prevailing trend towards the horizontal construction among other things not to compete with the height of the Cathedral.

With the architect Alberto Manrique Martín Bogota building was completed in 1926 under the chairmanship of Pedro Nel Ospina. The ornamentation of the building was made by the Swiss Luigi Ramelli, including masks and cornices that decorate the building.