Consultant: Kansas Capitol so stunning it should be a 'world heritage site'

A consultant hired to assess Topeka's historic preservation plan was so taken with the newly renovated Statehouse that she urged Topeka leaders to apply for “world heritage site” designation.

“There’s nothing like it anywhere,” Elizabeth Watson told the Topeka City Council last month,

according to the Topeka Capital-Journal

.

Watson said she was stunned by the facility.

A new visitors opens Thursday marking the tail end of a $330 million renovation that’s taken 13 years to complete.

The Cap-Journal reported that if the Capitol made it through an extensive vetting process, it would join the Grand Canyon National Park, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado on an exclusive worldwide list of cultural and natural sites.

The program is administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“Your Kansas state Capitol is really eligible to be a world heritage site, I think,” Watson told city council members. “That's my considered opinion, with some expertise behind that.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2014 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Consultant: Kansas Capitol so stunning it should be a 'world heritage site'."