Saturday, August 10, 2019
I don't know how I could leave out something as interesting as this tour we did in Washington, DC of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. So I am including it in the 2020 book so the memory is not lost.
We always knew of the Library of Congress and it was certainly on my bucket list of places to visit, but we had no idea that the building was the treasure that we toured today.
The Library of Congress was established in 1800. The initial library consisted of 740 books and three maps. These were housed in the new Capitol Building until 1814, when invading British troops burned the building, destroying the library.
Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement in 1815. Congress appropriated $23,950 to purchase his collection of 6,487 books. The foundation of a great national library. To protect the national library, Congress approved the construction of a separate Library building. This library opened on November 1, 1897. In 1980 the building was named for Thomas Jefferson in honor of his role in the Library's history.
This building was breathtaking. Three floors of exquisite architecture left me just staring and wondering how I could have lived in this area for so many years and had no idea how beautiful this building was.
The first floor is the Great Hall, the Gutenberg Bible, the Librarian's Ceremonial Office, and Mapping a New Nation. The second floor gives you a view of the main reading room, Thomas Jefferson's Library, exhibition gallery, and much more. The Ground Floor houses the Bob Hope Gallery, Gershwin Room, and Graphis Arts Galleries. There are many more areas to discover. Here are some pictures but they don't begin to reveal the beauty.
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