Aerial photo of the Capitol Visitor Center project site taken December 5, 2006.

Inside the CVC's Food Service Area, carpenters install mahogany panels to a wall adjacent to the primary visitor seating zone.

A CVC worker installs metal stud framing to the east wall inside the East Front of the Capitol.

Masons secure a block of white marble to the "Wall of Aspirations" in the CVC Exhibition Hall.

Workers dismantle the last remaining scaffolding supports in the Congressional Auditorium.

Workers have started dismantling the scaffold in the 450-seat Congressional Auditorium.

Workers make adjustments to a very complex system of air duct in the kitchen of the CVC's Food Service Area.

In the Exhibition Hall, masons set a piece of marble for the "Wall of Aspirations" which will house display cases for historic documents.

In the Great Hall, masons have completed the installation of stone on two monumental staircases and the central landing at the east side of the Hall.

Masons have resumed setting pavers around the historic Olmsted lanterns on the East Front Plaza.

A crew raises one of the two bronze doors for the North Orientation Theater visitor entrance.

In the Exhibition Hall, workers continue to build the structure that will house document cases and support nearly 20 tons of marble.

A CVC crew installs part of the steel foundation for a spiral staircase that will connect all three levels of the Senate Expansion Space.

In the CVC's 16,500-square-foot Exhibition Hall, a worker continues ceiling panel installation in the Virtual Senate Theater.

Workers install a bronze framework to the threshold of the North Orientation Theater.

Crews dismantled the remaining scaffolding in the Great Hall, revealing the finished ceiling above (top center).

A view of the East Front Plaza taken from a time-lapse camera atop the Jefferson Building dome.

Workers install curved acoustic fabric ceiling panels in the Food Service area.

Masons set stone at the base of a staircase leading to the entrance of a new Congressional Auditorium located below the East Capitol Street Extension.

Workers install a bronze frame to a steel window structure in the CVC entrance zone.

The wood panel ceiling of the North Orientation Theater is now in full view after crews dismantled the scaffolding that occupied the theater during the last several months.

Ceiling panel installation is nearly complete in a south side corridor adjacent to the Great Hall.

A CVC worker installs cherry wood panels to ceiling soffits in a meeting room adjacent to the Congressional Auditorium.

The first substantial expanse of ceiling panels in the CVC can be seen in this corridor just south of the Great Hall.

A photo of the new central staircase that will connect the CVC to the Capitol.

Stone masons are busy setting stone at the north end of the CVC entrance lobby.

A worker applies plaster to the ceiling framework above the Congressional Auditorium.

A mason applies grout between stones in the East Front transition zone, in an area that used to serve as a carriageway below the East Front center steps.

Workers install the steel framework that will support a curving marble wall in the Exhibition Hall.

Workers spread out newly poured concrete for the foundation of a sidewalk around the Senate-side seat wall.

Stone masons have nearly completed the marble and dolemite floor for the lobby area just outside of the South Orientation Theater.

Architect of the Capitol Alan Hantman (right) discusses the stone work in the CVC's Great Hall with (from left) Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Senator Jim DeMint and Senator Robert Bennett during a tour of the CVC.

Workers position a wood acoustic ceiling panel to the ceiling grid in the North Orientation Theater.

With floor stone complete in the Great Hall, masons are now focusing on completing the stone in adjacent threshold zones and corridors.

This aerial photo was taken August 16, 2006.

Masons set floor stone in the lobby area just outside of the CVC's two Orientation Theaters.

As sunlight pours in through the skylight above, masons continue setting floor stone in the Great Hall.

Masons set the stepping stones for the Virtual Senate Theater in the CVC's Exhibition Hall.

A millworker installs wood finishing trim to a ceiling soffit inside the South Orientation Theater.

Inside the Great Hall, stone masons have made good progress during the last two weeks to set approximately 35 percent of the floor stone for the Hall's nearly 21,000 square feet of floor space.

CVC workers position a steel beam arch in the East Front Extension of the Capitol.

Masons set a block of Tennessee Marble in the center of the Great Hall.

A stone mason sets the first floor stone in the Great Hall.

Workers install insulation board to the ceiling of the CVC Exhibition Hall.