April 24th, 1800 Library of Congress founded. In 1814 the British burned Washington D.C., including the library. In 1815, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his entire library to Washington, to replace what was burned. They accepted, and for $23,950, Jefferson gave up 6,487 books.
All of this information and more, is in the book “The Library of Congress: An Account, Historical and Discriptive” by Paul M. Angle, printed February 1958.
Eighty eight years after the Library of Congress opened, a museum in Amsterdam opened. April 24th, 1888 was the official opening date of the Amstelkring museum.
I have a book on the museum. A tourist’s guide. I visited church several years ago. It is also called “Our Lord in the Attic” museum. Amsterdam was an ‘open’ city, in regards to religion, but it would not allow catholics to build visual churches, that is, seen from the street. So they took a house, and cut the center out of the floors to make a tall alter, and add an organ. It is quite a museum.
I have added a few pictures from the visit. It is an ordinary four story building from the outside.
We were given this map to use when walking through the building. This was a remarkable piece of architectural design. There was a three story alter, and a two story pipe organ. There were several bars across the building, attached at either side, to keep the walls from buckling. This was one of the highlights of visiting Amsterdam.
With a few more significant dates coming up this year, you will hear additional stories of the Amsterdam visit. Keep reading.
Librarytomes 