The first-floor rotunda is home to four beautiful monuments at the foot of the grand staircases to the second floor. A replica of Wisconsin's State Constitution is displayed in the north. A bust of Robert M. LaFollette, founder of the Progressive Movement and former Wisconsin Governor and United States Senator, is in the east. A replica of the Liberty Bell is displayed in the south, and in 1933, a memorial to Wisconsin veterans was erected in the west.
Between the four arches in the rotunda are pendentives, which make the transition from the octagonal form of the rotunda to the circular form of the dome. The four pendentives of the rotunda are decorated with four panels of glass mosaics designed by Kenyon Cox, at a total cost of $20,000. Kenyon Cox, born in Warren Ohio, (1856 - 1919) was an important American painter, draughtsman and art critic. He also painted murals for the Library of Congress and the Capitol of Iowa and Minnesota.
Cox's mosaic panels are twelve feet high and average twenty-four feet in length. Each mosaic consists of approximately 100,000 pieces of glass tile and represents Wisconsin's three branches of government (the legislative, the executive, and the judicial) and liberty - the foundation of all power in a free country. "Legislation" is depicted as a powerful older man with a long beard, holding a stylus in his right hand, seated beside a sphinx symbol of wisdom. A young man holding a leading staff in his right hand while his left hand rests upon a great sword represents "Government"- the executive power. "Justice" is represented by a young woman seated in a lion throne, who tests the scales in the balance to demonstrate the purely judicial function of weighing one cause against the other. "Liberty" is represented as a young woman wearing the traditional red Phrygian cap and otherwise dressed in two shades of green, the colors of youth and hope. Her right hand guards the ballot box while her left hand points upward.
Another major point of interest in the Capitol rotunda is a beautiful ceiling decoration done by the distinguished artist, Edwin Howland-Blashfield. This masterpiece, entitled "Resources of Wisconsin," shows a female figure as "Wisconsin". She is centrally located in the painting, enthroned on clouds and wrapped in the American flag.
During the winter holiday season, the Wisconsin State Capitol Holiday Tree graces the rotunda during the month of December. Typically, a forty-foot Wisconsin-grown Balsam Fir is selected as the holiday tree. Each year, the Capitol Holiday Tree is decorated with approximately 700 feet of gold garland, 2,000 multicolored lights, and 1,500 handmade ornaments donated by Wisconsin citizens.