The Resident Tourist, Episode 1 - The Library of Congress

I have lived in the DC Metro area on and off since I was 5 years old.  I have been away from it for a collective total of 11 years, if you count college when I was still coming home most summers.  I make it a point to try new things and also to never forsake my first loves, if you will.

I recently came to a point where I almost left DC for a job.  It ended up not working out but in my head and partly in my heart I had one foot out the door.  Since that time, it struck me that there is a lot in DC that I don't take enough advantage of.  When I was studying there, my Parisian host mom always told me "Profites-en bien!" meaning "take good advantage of being here!"  She's right.  Some of the best recent advice I have been given is to "bloom where you are planted".  Therefore, since my lease on DC has been renewed in a metaphorical sense, how can I bloom in this ground which I call home?

Something has surfaced as I've thought about this, also taken from a friend with the same mission: to try one new thing a month.  For me, this means visiting one new place or doing something touristy in DC one time each month.  So I've been following the shorts and sandals amidst the sea of suits on the sidewalk.  Where are they going? What's important to people who are seeing DC with new eyes, the eyes of someone who only has a short time to cram everything awesome about the city into one visit?

I was recently online looking to schedule a White House guided tour through my congressman.  I found out through this process that, due to sequestration, tours of the White House are no longer offered to the public.  Woe is me!  I have a distant memory of going to a White House Christmas party when I was in 2nd grade and a dress marine served me spiked egg nog.  This is, admittedly, pretty fantastic.  However, I thought I would probably appreciate the White House tour more now that I can vote, and have watched all 7 seasons of The West Wing at least 3 times all the way through.  Only slightly daunted, I decided to schedule a tour for the Library of Congress instead.

I had to take a half-day off work to be able to take the tour and it was well worth the time.  They begin the tour saying that the LOC is one of the most beautiful buildings in DC.  I think it wins that contest hands down.  Floor to ceiling marble, ornately carved staircases, stained glass, stately columns and statues, one walks through these halls thinking of all the knowledge stored within them.  The Jefferson building has burned to the ground and been added on to several times and has a huge annex, the Madison building, to house its extraordinary collection.

The Great Hall and the central reading room are the crown jewels of the building.  The post-Enlightenment theme of the decorations in the main foyer speak to the virtues of nobility, knowledge, and truth.  The names and quotes in the Great Hall were chosen by Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford and Charles W. Eliot, the president of Harvard University at the time.  It is evidenced through their selections that they wanted the building to have the Enlightenment spirit.  Man is God and Knowledge is Truth.

I really loved seeing the Gutenberg Bible, contrasted with an older bible, all written by hand with the most beautiful script.  Some things are worth taking a long time with.  But bless Gutenberg for making print so accessible!  I wonder what he would think of the internet and e-readers? 

 We had to wait a while to get into the main reading room.  But look at this beauty!  I wouldn't mind reading more in a space like this.  Though I do enjoy my couch quite a bit as well.  The library of congress has beauty I had not known!

Everyone should visit this beautiful building.  Some people have asked me if it is right to spend so much money on things like this.  They have asked it in regards to churches.  Is it right for the goverment to spend so much on a building? What of the cost of the intricate carvings, the ornate stained glass ceiling?  I've been thinking this week about beauty.  What is beauty, why does it matter? There was recently something on the TED Radio Hour dealing with this question.  In that episode, a contributor said this: "Beauty draws us in. We can't stop looking or listening or touching. It takes us outside ourselves and it motivates us. " Neurologically, one learns from this podcast, reactions to beauty in music or art stimulate activity to the areas of the brain devoted to creativity.  A building that houses some of the most cherished works of art, cartography, literature, audio and more from our nation's history should be a place of beauty.  Beauty does draw us outside of ourselves. I would contend it draws us toward the eternal, the transformational.  That's why beauty is important and that's why this building should be just as it is.  

Stay tuned for more resident tourist adventures.