Thomas Jefferson Building - Washington DC
During my recent research trip to the USA, I had the opportunity to visit the wonderful Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress. There are more than 164 million items on 838 miles of bookshelves in 470 languages and includes more than 38 million books as well as photographs, 5.5 million maps, more than 8 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts. It’s a real treasure trove and worthy of a visit for anyone visiting D.C. It is a major research centre and has 19 specialty reading rooms. The Library was established in 1800 when President John Adams signed a bill transferring the seat of U.S. government to Washington. In 1815 Congress purchased 6,487 books from the retired Thomas Jefferson and these became the foundation of the Library. I have included photos of the Great Hall of this renaissance style building, ornamented in the Beaux Arts tradition as well as artifacts from the European explorers and conquerors Pizarro and Cortes.
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