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... . This is a picture of the dome (ceiling) of the main reading room of the Jefferson Building. The Jefferson Building was the first separate Library of Congress building. The idea came from the Librarian of Congress at the time, Ainsworth Rand Spofford in 1871. Construction of the Jefferson Building was authorized in 1886 and completed in 1887. The dome in the  Main Reading Room  attracts many visitors and is covered with 23 carat gold. . . This is another view of the Main Reading Room in the Jefferson Building. What do you think the hot pink arrow is pointing to? Well, if your answer was the dome, you were right!! As you can see, these rooms took a very long time to build (from 1871 to 1887)  because of all the fine carvings. Actually, if someone just gave you this picture, not knowing what it was, your answer would probably be "a Greek temple"!!! . In 1986 a massive reconstruction project began on the Jefferson Building in honor of the building's 100th birthday (1997).  There was much work to be done. In this picture a painter is working on the dome of the Main Reading Room. The Reading Room re-opened to the public in 1991 when the construction was finished. .. . This is the room in the Jefferson Building which was originally used by Congress members as their own personal reading room. The reason for this was that before the Library of Congress became public, only members of congress could have access to the rooms for researching certain topics, such as the history of ancient laws. .. . This is a picture of one of the Reading Rooms in the Adams Building (another Library of Congress Building connected to the Madison Building by an underground tunnel). You must be 18 or older to enter any reading room. I think that having access to all of this cool information online is a great opportunity for children and teenagers to learn new, dazzling information that may interest you and maybe help you to discover a career. .. . This is the Asian Reading Room in the Jefferson Building. It is much brighter than all the other rooms because it has so many windows. . . This is a print of the old reading rooms. If you compare it to the new reading rooms above you will see how much they've changed since the year 1887. A man named W. Bengough drew this picture. Ten years after the first Library of Congress Building was built (February 1897), the Jefferson Building was built. It was featured in Harper's Weekly. .