2 Best Sights in Washington, D.C., USA

Founded in 1800, the largest library in the world has more than 173 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. Only 51 million of its holdings are books—the library also has 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 8.1 million pieces of sheet music, and 70 million manuscripts. Also here is the Congressional Research Service, which, as the name implies, works on special projects for senators and representatives.

Opened in 1897, the copper-domed Thomas Jefferson Building is the oldest of the three buildings that make up the library. The dome, topped with the gilt "Flame of Knowledge," is ornate and decorative, with busts of Dante, Goethe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne perched above its entryway. The Court of Neptune, Roland Hinton Perry's fountain at the front steps, rivals some of Rome's best fountains.

The Jefferson Building opens into the Great Hall, richly adorned with mosaics, paintings, and curving marble stairways. The octagonal Main Reading Room, its central desk surrounded by mahogany readers' tables under a 160-foot-high domed ceiling, inspires researchers and readers alike. Computer terminals have replaced card catalogs, but books are still retrieved and dispersed the same way: readers (16 years or older) open a free reader identification card issued by the library, hand request slips to librarians and wait for their materials to be delivered. Researchers aren't allowed in the stacks, and only members of Congress and other special borrowers can check books out. Items from the library's collection—which includes one of only three perfect Gutenberg Bibles in the world—are on display in the Jefferson Building's second-floor Southwest Gallery and Pavilion. Free timed-entry passes are required for entry.

 The Library puts on some amazing exhibits from its vast collection, including musical instruments, early maps, and baseball cards! 

This Elizabethan monument, a white-marble art deco building decorated with sculpted bas-relief scenes from the Bard's plays, was designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret and dedicated in 1932. Inside, the design is Tudor England with oak paneling, high plaster ceilings, and ornamental floor tiles. Henry Clay Folger, the library's founder, personally selected the inscriptions by and about Shakespeare that are found throughout the property. Rare items and interactive displays fill two stunning exhibition halls spanning the length of the building, including a gallery displaying all 82 of the library's Shakespeare First Folios. Terra-cotta floor tiles feature titles of Shakespeare's plays and the masks of comedy and tragedy. A First Folio of Shakespeare is always on view and may be thumbed through here digitally.

Visitors are greeted at the entrance to the Elizabethan theater with a marble statue of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. With its overhead canopy representing the sky, wooden balconies, and oak columns, the theater is a reproduction of a 16th-century inn-yard playhouse. This is the site for performances of Shakespearean plays, chamber music, readings, lectures, and family programs; check the website for a calendar of events. Understandably, the collection of works by and about Shakespeare and his times is second to none, and the historic Reading Room is devoted to scholarly research. A manicured Elizabethan garden at the building's east end is open to the public, and the gift shop contains many collectibles featuring the Bard and English theater.

The library is closed for renovation, with plans to reopen in late fall 2023. Performances and other events will take place at other venues in Washington, D.C.