Library of Congress (Jefferson Building)

The Library of Congress is the research library that serves the United States Congress and is the largest library in the world by collection size, holding more than 170 million items across books, recordings, photographs, maps, and manuscripts. In 1815 Thomas Jefferson sold his personal library to Congress, providing the foundational core for the institution's collections. The Jefferson Building is the oldest of the Library's buildings and contains monumental reading rooms and public exhibition galleries.