Roman Firepots

The Roman firepots, created in 1928 by Tiffany Studios in New York, are located on four platforms in the rotunda of the Legislative Building. They are designed to look like ancient Roman firepots, which were lit with peat moss or oil to alert the Roman Senate to meet.

The U.S. got many of its ideas for our representative form of government from the ancient Romans. Throughout the Legislative Building, you will see many details inspired by ancient Rome, but the firepots have the closest ties to the spirit of democracy. Each time the Roman Senate met, they would light firepots as part of their ceremonies. The citizens of Rome would see these lit firepots and know that the senate was meeting. We have the firepots in this space as a symbol to the people of Washington that the Legislative Building is the center of democracy and the rule of law. While these firepots aren’t lit with flames, they do still light up the corners of the rotunda!

Behind each firepot are flags from the 39 counties of Washington State. Each flag represents one of the counties and is organized by the four geographical corners of the state: northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. The firepots and county flags together remind visitors of the importance of democracy and the history of representative government.

Tiffany Studios contributed several more lighting fixtures to the Legislative Building, including the Angels of Mercy chandelier in the rotunda.