The ceiling of the Capitol rotunda.

The Mississippi state capitol is officially a historic landmark, the U.S. Department of Interior said Wednesday.

The designation means the building, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, can receive federal funds if it is damaged in a disaster declared by the president.

The building was designed in 1900 by St. Louis architect Theodore Link; it cost $1 million and took two years to construct. The building was one of the first capitols to use the Beaux Arts Classicism style, marked by the use of sculptures, stained glass, and mosaic marble floors.


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