Synopsis

Where in Washington, D.C. resides the nation’s most extraordinary collection? It is a library unparalleled anywhere else on Earth: the U.S. Library of Congress. *Modern Marvels* dispels the common notion that this two-century-old institution is merely "where members of Congress borrow books." The program takes viewers beyond the splendor of the Jefferson Building Great Hall, into hidden vaults where over 600 miles of shelving hold an astounding 130 million items—many of them priceless treasures.