The Library of Congress has three main buildings, each named after Founding Fathers. If you’ve been to one, it’s probably the Thomas Jefferson Building, as that’s the one where they give tours and have a Magna Carta and all that. The Madison Building is for research, not tourists – the guard politely but firmly made this point when I dropped by. “I’m just here to find a statue of President Madison, actually,” I said, and he pointed to a corridor to the left of the doors. “Over there,” he said, and I turned my camera’s zoom lens to the “way the heck down there” setting so I could grab a photo.
That’s really all there is to do at this building, at least for tourists. The Jefferson Building not only has the tourist facilities, it has a bunch of statues of nude mermaids and stuff on the outside, and even the diminutive and reserved Mr. Madison would admit that he’s no match for something like that.
