In March, my wife and I visited one of our nieces who was temporarily living in Washington, D.C. It was a quick weekend trip, but peeking into The Library of Congress was a must! It’s the mothership for American library enthusiasts.

History

The Library of Congress was established in 1800. The first collection, housed in the Capitol building, was destroyed by the British Army in 1814. A second collection was partially destroyed by fire in 1851. By 1873, the library space in Congress was bursting at the seams, so a design competition for a new free-standing library was launched.

The Library of Congress Jefferson Building
Architects: John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz
Style: Italian Renaissance/Beaux Arts
Construction began: 1888
Opened: November 1, 1897

We visited on a rainy day, and it was easy to find our way: follow the umbrellas. Note the Capital dome in the background. The Library of Congress was initially a reference library for members of Congress. There is a private reading room with its own entrance for members of Congress, and it is also open to the public. It is the largest library in the world, housing not only books but historical treasures and every imaginable media type.

The main entrance is under the staircase ahead, but upon turning the corner, my eye went immediately to the bust on the facade, in the circle, above the black lampost.

It’s Dante! I read Dante’s Divine Comedy for the first time in 2023 and felt like he was popping up everywhere for months afterward. To be realistic, I enjoy visiting historic buildings; it’s not like he was showing up at Target. Dante may not be included on modern library facades, but when the names or likenesses of writers were included on 19th-century libraries, there’s an excellent chance he is among the luminaries.

Out of the rain, waiting for the doors to open. Visitors must reserve free, timed tickets to visit the Library of Congress. The building behind the tree is the James Madison Memorial Building, part of The Library of Congress.

Patiently waiting.

Entering the Great Hall. Note the statue on the staircase to the right holding an orb light.

My wife and niece are posing beside the statue, which was sculpted by Philip Martiny.

The interior is overwhelming at first. It took some time before I could focus on even some of the larger details, let alone smaller details (and smaller here is completely relative due to the magnitude).

It’s also hard to take a bad photo in the place because it is so beautiful, large in scale, and rich in detail. That said, photos don’t exactly do it justice.

Again, the same statue is in the foreground, looking up at the great hall and ceiling. The sculptures and murals tell stories about the evolution of books and knowledge or depict literary and historical figures.

The porthole windows across the great hall add a nice touch of additional light and symmetry. Notice the round murals where the wall does not face outside.

Porthole window detail. Every inch of the building is covered with literary-inspired art or significant architectural detail.

There are also many bookish quotes. The three in the photo above are:
“In books lies the soul of the whole past time.”
“Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words.”
“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”

Romance! Of course, romance had a slightly different literary meaning in the late 19th century than what we think of today, but this caught my eye as the Book Cougars podcast reading theme this year is romance. George R. Barse, Jr. painted this representation of Romance and other major themes or styles of Literature in the great hall.

A slightly different view of the romance mural so you can see the height of the columns and ceiling.

From lofty heights to the floor, beauty is everywhere.

The staircase in the upper part of this photo leads to a balcony overlooking the main reading room.

Photo from the balcony overlooking the main reading room.

The dome.

Desks and carpet detail.

The Bard. Shakespeare overlooking the main reading room.

A list of the Librarians of Congress. Carla Diane Hayden is the first woman and first African American to lead the institution.

Edgar Allan Poe and Heinrich Heine on the ceiling. I wonder if there was a lot of debate about which writers to include, where they were placed, next to whom, and in what form — their name in mosaic, a bust, a full statue? It would be interesting to read about these decisions. I imagine there may have been a few literary arguments.

Yes, there’s a store in the Library of Congress! It was full of souvenirs for all tastes and budget levels. Books for sale ranged from nonfiction history to, oddly, a bunch of Louise Penny novels. I purchased a copy of American Libraries 1730-1950 by Kenneth Breisch with a foreword by Carla Hayden, the current Librarian of Congress. They have an online shop, too.

I also purchased a lovely print of Margaret Fuller that now hangs above my writing desk. [Note: The Library of America is publishing an edition of Margaret Fuller’s collected writings in February 2025. Pre-orders will be shipped in mid-December. I plan on doing a slow buddy read of this book. Details to come.]

I snapped this last photo as we pulled away in an Uber, off to our next destination. (Which was The National Gallery, where I had a surprising run-in with a famous work by the illustrator of a Willa Cather short story I had read just the month before. More on that in the next post!)

The Library of Congress Today

The Library of Congress is more than just a pretty building; it is a busy institution that serves both Congress and the general public. In 2023, the Library of Congress responded to 681,000 reference requests, has a staff of 3,238 employees, and a budget of $875.4 million. Two other large buildings, the John Adams Building (1938) and the James Madison Building (1981), are part of the Library of Congress complex on Capital Hill, as are other large facilities in the area.

If you plan to visit Washington, D.C., you won’t regret adding The Library of Congress to your itinerary.

The Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson Building
10 First Street SE
Washington, DC 20540
Website: https://www.loc.gov

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Check out more of my library visit posts.