One of the most unexpectedly exciting parts of our (I must mention...my wife has been a librarian for over 25 years) Washington, D.C. visit was a tour of The Thomas Jefferson Building at The Library of Congress. The library was established in 1800 as "Our Nation's Research Library" and is the second largest library in the world.
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| The Research Reading Room |
The Library of Congress houses over 32 million cataloged books (filling over 800 miles of book shelves) in over 450 languages, over 61 million original manuscripts, an rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, and two Gutenberg Bibles (one handwritten and one from a printing press). There are also millions of newspapers, pieces of sheet music, maps, sound recordings, and photographs, etc. in its vast collection.
All of the inscriptions at the Library of Congress
But IMO, the most awe-inspiring section of the Library of Congress is the Great Hall...the Great Hall is lined with myriads of impressive murals, sculptures, ornate stairways/ arches and quotes on wisdom, and an incredible painting of the goddess Minerva.
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| Minerva: The Guardian of Civilization |
One could spend hours contemplating the artwork, inscriptions, the meaning of freedom...
One of my favorite quotes of dozens lining the wall of the Great Hall was:
"A LITTLE LEARNING IS A DANGEROUS THING;
DRINK DEEP OR TASTE NOT OF THE PIERIAN SPRING."
DRINK DEEP OR TASTE NOT OF THE PIERIAN SPRING."
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| My wife savoring her time at the LOC |
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