There was very little. A lot of things intervened to keep a full-blown celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of the U.S. Capitol building from developing:

• the focus on the national presidential elections has had Members preoccupied
• repairs and construction in both the Rotunda and Statuary Hall had already been planned, closing both areas for extended periods of time
• orientation activities for the new House Members of the 107th Congress were set for the week of November 13, while new Senators do not arrive until December 5 for theirs, making coordination of Members' schedules difficult for any ceremony.

The Capitol was still not completed when Congress first met there on November 17, 1800.

U.S. Capitol, 1837

It would take 34 years before the building would be fully finished. When it opened, besides the House and Senate chambers, committee rooms, and a few offices for the Senate and House of Representatives, the Capitol also housed the Library of Congress [until 1897] and the Supreme Court [until 1935].

A private organization, the United States Capitol Historical Society, has created a commemorative website and traveling exhibit to mark the bicentennial, and the Senate plans to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Capitol by adding two new portraits to the current portraits located just outside the Senate floor, in the Senate Reception Room – the portraits are of Sen. Arthur Vandenberg (R-Mich.) and Robert Wagner (D-N.Y.). There are also plans to issue two congressional publications in 2001: a commemorative print of a history of the Capitol by William Allen and the 1853-1861 journals of Captain Montgomery Meigs, who had supervised the construction of the Capitol dome and the House and Senate wings.

The Capitol Historical Society's website, "Where Freedom Speaks: Two Hundred Years of the U.S. Capitol" tells the story of the building's evolving architecture, as well as the development of its collection of historical art and artifacts.

It is a virtual replica of an exhibit of images and explanatory text that will hit the road for a bicentennial anniversary tour. The exhibit will visit various State Capitols, ending in December, 2002. It is scheduled to travel through the state capitols of Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Exhibit organizers hope to add additional state capitols as the tour progresses.