Arizona Capitol Museum

Arizona Capitol Museum

The Arizona Capitol Museum is housed in the State Capitol building in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to housing the Arizona Capitol Museum the building acted as the official government building for earlier Arizona territorial and state legislatures. When the building was remodeled in preparation for the museum all prior functions were moved to nearby locations.

At the Arizona Capitol Museum exhibits follow a timeline of local history, from the early days of territorial government to the present. Topics include historical figures, Arizona state symbols, the role of government and the story of Arizona’s statehood, natural history, and photographs from local photographers.

On display at the Arizona Capitol Museum is the silver and copper punchbowl service from the battleship USS Arizona, along with a silver sculpture that had been located outside the Admiral’s stateroom. Each of these historical silver artifacts survived the sinking of Battleship USS Arizona due to the fact they had been removed from the ship for cleaning just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, 1941. The punchbowl service is the only one of its kind and is composed of etched copper panels depicting desert scenes set into a silver bowl ornamented with mermaids, dolphins, waves, and other nautical themes.

The museum consist of four floors of exhibits. In addition to the silver saved from the USS Arizona the museum contains exhibits and information on the state symbols, rattlesnakes, territorial Arizona, the local governmental legislative process, famous figures from AZ’s past and even more.

The Museum is open Monday-Friday from 9am-4 pm and is closed on state and national holidays.

One the Arizona State Capitol Museum Map below, the museum is found inside the black square while extra parking inside the red circle.

Arizona Capitol Museum Parking Map

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