The King Kamehameha statue in Washington will have a new home at the U.S. Capitol by the end of the week.

The statue will be moved from Statuary Hall to Emancipation Hall in the Capitol's new visitor center, which opens Dec. 2., U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said Wednesday in a news release issued by his Washington office.

"This is a significant and exciting development in the history of the King Kamehameha statue, which has stood in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall since 1969," said Abercrombie, who signed a letter in 2003 asking the Architect of the Capitol to move the statue out of a dark, back row of Statuary Hall and into a more visible location.

The letter stemmed from a videotaped comment by a Capitol tour guide who said the statue was placed in a back corner of Statuary Hall because Congress was upset that Kamehameha "wasn't that decently dressed."

The Architect of the Capitol had explained that the six-ton statue, one of the heaviest in the Capitol's collection, had to be placed on a spot in Statuary Hall where the building's structure could support it.

The statue was dedicated as Hawai'i's gift to the National Statuary Hall collection in 1969.

"The king's statue will occupy a location in the new Emancipation Hall, which is part of the visitor center that features glass skylights with views, from underground, of the Capitol," Abercrombie said. "This will provide an absolutely grand setting for millions of visitors to view the statue and to appreciate King Kamehameha's place in history."

Abercrombie called Kamehameha a legendary figure.

"The new location of his statue provides the prominence King Kamehameha deserves in the Capitol because of his place in the history of our state and nation," he said.

The statue is a copy of the King Kamehameha statue situated outside the Hawaii Supreme Court building in Honolulu.