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Visit a Library of Wonders

August 28, 2025, Posted by: Neely Tucker, Share this post.

With an introduction by Page Harrington, chief of the Visitor Engagement Office, this is a guest post by several members of that office. It also appears in the July-August issue Library of Congress Magazine.

The nation’s capital is a visitor’s delight: Few places in the United States, if any, pack so many binge-worthy historical and cultural sights into such a compact area.

And few places in Washington, if any, can match the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building for sheer beauty and inspiration. The Jefferson opened in 1897 as the Library’s first stand-alone building, the largest library building in the world. Its dazzling decoration and soaring architecture made it a source of national pride, and its program of sculpture and painting made it a monument to civilization, imagination and knowledge. It’s easy to find out how to visit us, and we hope you do.

Meanwhile, here are some of the VEO staff favorites.

Main Reading Room Statues

One of the most impressive features of the Main Reading Room are the statues that adorn the room’s balconies and columns. Atop each of the eight marble columns surrounding the room stands a 10-foot allegorical figure representing an area of thought: religion, commerce, history, art, philosophy, poetry, law and science.

These allegorical figures are draped in symbolic clothing and props to communicate their discipline: The history figure holds a book and a mirror facing backward to reflect the past; science holds a globe and a mirror facing forward to reflect progress.

Each figure is flanked by bronze statues (16 in total) representing major contributors to that field. Beethoven, for example, stands on one side of art and Michelangelo on the other.

Together, these symbolic and representative statues convey an 1897 perspective on global contributions to eight core disciplines of knowledge.

—Colette Combs, Visitor Engagement Technician

“Evolution of the Book”

On the east side of the Great Hall, you will see six lunette paintings that make up “The Evolution of the Book,” by com American painter John White Alexander in 1895.

The series begins on the south end with “The Cairn,” depicting an ancient civilization building a ceremonial mound to commemorate its dead or mark an important location. “Oral Tradition” and “Egyptian Hieroglyphics” follow, portraying early storytelling in two forms. In “Oral Tradition,” a storyteller speaks to a crowd; in “Egyptian Hieroglyphics,” two figures chisel written words into a building exterior.

The north side of the Great Hall houses “Picture Writing,” which shows Native Americans drawing on animal hides that could be easily transported and traded. Finally, “Manuscript Book” and “Printing Press” work in tandem to portray how Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized book production with the creation of metal movable type.

—Shannon McMaster, Visitor Engagement Technician

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