Navajo Nation Council Chamber (Navajo:Béésh bąąh dah si'ání) is the center of government for theNavajo Nation. The landmark building, inWindow Rock, Arizona, is significant for its association with the 1930sNew Deal, and its change in federal policy for relations with Native Americans, as established in theIndian Reorganization Act. With its red sandstonefaçade and overallrustic architectural style, the chamber was designed to harmonize with its spectacular natural surroundings. The building was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 2004.[2][3] It is "the only legislative headquarters in the United States owned by an American Indian tribe which has been continuously in use by that tribe and whose design incorporatesindigenous materials and architectural traditions tied to the Navajo heritage."[4]
The Navajo National Council Chamber stands amid a campus of other Navajo Nation government facilities in Window Rock, on the south side of Tribal Hill Road, sited with a view of the stone arch formation that gives Window Rock its name. It is a two-level stone structure, built out of red sandstone designed to harmonize with the surrounding sandstone formations. It is octagonal in shape, its design intended to evoke a monumentalhogan, the traditional building form of theNavajo people.Ponderosa pinevigas radiate outward to stone buttresses, and heavy wooden timbers serve as lintels and trim. The main entrance faces east (a traditional Navajo orientation), with flanking seven-foot wooden panels carved by the Navajo artist Charles Shirley. At the center of the structure is an octagonalclerestory level. The interior is a single large chamber, with steel columns supporting smaller vigas tied to the larger ones which support the roof.[3] The Navajo artistGerald Nailor, Sr. was commissioned in 1942 for a mural cycle depictingThe History and Progress of the Navajo Nation, which is installed in the interior.[4]
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