The Library of Congress was built in 1800, officially opened in April of 1800, and was established on Capitol Hill in Washington. It is the largest library in the world and one of the most important libraries in the world. With the support of the U.S. Congress, the Library of Congress was built through public funds, appropriate appropriations from the U.S. Congress, donations from private enterprises and the joint efforts of all the staff committed to library work. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, has become the largest treasure house of knowledge in the world, is an important symbol of American knowledge and democracy, and occupies an important position in American culture. According to the latest statistics, it has 75 million works. There are only about18 million bound volumes, with nearly 654.38+265.438+0 million items in various collections, and more than two-thirds of the books are stored in multimedia form. The library covers an area of 35 mu, and the total length of shelves exceeds 80 kilometers, including many rare books, special collections, the world's largest maps, movies and TV movies.