580 - Library of Congress
Today I explored the secret tunnels under our nation’s greatest bank of knowledge- the Library of Congress.
And I discovered them by accident, really. This wasn’t some b-grade reenactment of National Treasure. I was strolling around the Library, minding my own business, when the tunnels seemingly appeared out of nowhere. But we’ll get back to that in a second. First, we got to cover the basics of this place.
The Library of Congress is small. Ridiculously small. For some reason, I always had this grand vision in my mind that the place stretched for blocks across the political hellscape that is DC. And I couldn’t be further from the truth.
The reality is, you walk in the front door, get buzzed down by twenty security guards, then land in the main foyer. Which, when you look up, looks exactly like this:
“Chariots of Fire”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
A masterclass in ceiling design.
And believe me, I would know. If I had a dollar for every photo I’ve taken of a ceiling in my five year photography career, I’d buy the Library of Congress.
However, the shot was surprisingly difficult to get. I had to lay on the floor in the center of the room like a salamander, and patiently for tourists to get out of the way. Because I’m not sure if you know this, but 10mm is wider than an elephant’s asshole.
After clearing that room, there’s only one place to see. The Reading Room- which you’ve probably seen in the movies. Most notably, National Treasure. And the only way to get a picture of this place is to:
Crowd into a small hallway swarmed with tourists and shoot it through a fingerprint stained glass window
Book a “study session” in the room way in advance like a professional
Show up randomly without any planning and get lucky that a tour that only happens for one hour a day three days a week is starting in 20 minutes
I opted for option 3. And since no one was in line yet, I graciously took my place at the front of the queue with a smile on my face. People followed soon followed suit.
After 20 minutes of pure anticipation, they released the floodgates. The doors slowly opened, a bright light shined out, and we made our way into the Reading Room. About 7 security guards escorted us around a small, circular pathway.
I did some quick math given our walking velocity around the circle, and quickly realized that I had approximately 2 minutes in this room before the guards would escort us out. And that’s if I walked abnormally slow. Fuck.
I snatched my camera out of my bag and started snapping away:
“The Reading Room”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/250s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
“Dark Hole”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/320s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
And boom. That’s the Library of Congress, folks. Literally. That’s it. I found one more small room of to the side with cool ceilings, but that was it:
“Elegant Artistry”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/125s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
What was next? I’d anticipated spending at least a couple hours here, but here I was, done in a half hour. And I wasn’t about to let that damn parking meter go to waste.
Perhaps there was something I was missing…
…and you’d be right.
Those damn secret tunnels I mentioned at the start.
They appeared in the corner of my eye like a Spidey Sense that suddenly started tingling. See, after all these years of exploring, I’ve come to appreciate the finer small corners of life:
“Entrance to the Tunnels”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 200 ~ 12mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/50s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
What was this we had here? An adventure calling my name... So I descended into the light like a mole returning to his long-lost home.
It lead to tunnels. Pure, as far as the eye could see, tunnels.
Was I supposed to be here? I wasn’t quite sure. It seemed public, but there wasn’t a single tourist in sight. I kept walking. Given the security of this place, I figured that if I truly wasn’t supposed to be down here, I’d find out very soon.
But after about 10 minutes, no one had stopped me yet. A janitor walked by holding a few trash bags, his earbuds jamming a trendy hip hop tune. Then a few nerdy looking researchers appeared on the horizon, and gave me a questionable side eye.
At this point, I had no idea where I was. Somewhere deep under the streets of DC. This tunnel just kept going.
Eventually, I landed at an elevator that stated I’d arrived at the “Madison Building.” I took it to the top floor and arrived in a lobby that looked like it was straight out of Blade Runner 2049:
“Blade Runner 2069”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
What in God’s name had I found? I took out my phone to do a little research. I wasn’t trying to walk straight into Area 52.
Turns out, the Madison Building was another division of the Library of Congress. It housed manuscripts, newspaper articles, maps, and a variety of other documents that didn’t quite fit into the “main” Library of Congress.
Wow.
I opened up the glass doors at the end of the lobby and ended up in this room here:
“Dexter’s Laboratory”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/400s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Straight out of the future. If this was where my tax dollars were going, I wasn’t complaining.
A few more scholarly-types walked by, staring at me and my camera like I was from another planet. Apparently tourists don’t get around here much.
I began to wonder how many other buildings in the DC area existed in solitary confinement, much like this one. World class architecture, seen only by the eyes of a few high-end researchers. And me.
I spent another hour or so browsing the tunnels below, hoping to come across another find like this one. But that dragon never came through.
I was lost in abyss of DC.
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