Civics
2
The James Madison Memorial Building, the third Library of Congress building on Capitol Hill, is the nation’s official memorial to President James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution and a key author of the Bill of Rights. In 1783, as a member of the Continental Congress, Madison first sponsored the idea of a library for Congress by proposing a list of books useful to legislators. Designed by DeWitt, Poor, and Shelton, Associated Architects, the building opened in 1980. Quotations from Madison about knowledge and democracy appear on the exterior walls and in Madison Memorial Hall inside the main entrance, where a statue by Walker K. Hancock shows Madison as a young man in his thirties holding a copy of a French encyclopedia. Above the main entrance is a four-story bronze relief titled "Falling Books," by Frank Eliscu.
Hear stories like this as you drive
ExploreHere reads historical markers out loud as you pass them: over 325,000 stories across the US. No account needed.
4.7 · 800+ ratings · Free
FIND IT
Washington, District of Columbia · United States
