Thomas Jefferson Building
Good to know
- Best time to go
- Year-round
- Budget
- $
- Accessibility
- wheelchair-accessible
- Coordinates
- Open in maps
The oldest and most ornate of the Library of Congress buildings, the Thomas Jefferson Building opened in 1897 as a temple to learning. Its Beaux-Arts interior is famed for the Great Hall, a soaring marble atrium filled with murals, mosaics, and allegorical sculpture, and for the circular Main Reading Room crowned by a decorated dome. Visitors can view a Gutenberg Bible and rotating treasures from the collections. The building's exuberant decoration by dozens of American artists makes the interior a work of art in itself.
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