Stop 6. Great Hall of Flags. If you walk just beyond the main staircase to the right and go through the glass doors, you will find the Great Hall. The Great Hall is the newest addition to the state house, completed in 1990. Before 1990, it was an open air space. It was built up from the basement and topped with a glass ceiling.

Today it is used for official state functions and receptions. This room has a large collection of flags of the cities and towns of Massachusetts hanging on the walls, giving it the name the Great Hall flags. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns, but a few flags are missing, as indicated by the empty calls you see on the walls. The first town incorporated in Massachusetts is Plymouth, established in 1620, whose flag is located on the bottom row of the left side of the room.

The newest town is East Brookfield, established in 1920, whose flag is now on the top row at the far right of the south wall. The clock in the center of the room was designed by a New York artist named R.M. Fisher to serve as a functional piece of artwork. Fisher was inspired by the clocks that graced town halls, churches and other meeting halls of New England in an attempt to relate to the space surrounding the clock.

He employed many arcs and circles that echo the architectural elements of the building, including the arch doorways and circular patterns of the marble floor.