Folger Shakespeare Library
Half a block from the Supreme Court, the Folger Shakespeare Library holds the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works — and its Elizabethan-style reading room, with dark oak panelling and stained-glass windows, is one of the most beautiful interiors almost no tourist ever sees.
The Collection and the Building
The Folger holds over 310,000 books and manuscripts from the Renaissance period, including 82 copies of the First Folio — more than any other institution on earth. The 1932 Art Deco building conceals a Tudor-style interior that feels like you've stepped into an Elizabethan great hall.
The Great Hall hosts rotating exhibitions drawn from the collection — rare folios, Elizabethan maps, theatrical costumes — that change several times a year and are free to visit. Even a 45-minute visit leaves you with a completely different sense of how old and alive this literature really is.
Live Performances and Events
The Folger Theatre stages professional Shakespeare productions in its intimate 250-seat Elizabethan Theatre, one of the few replica Elizabethan playhouses in the world. Productions sell out quickly, especially in spring and autumn — book tickets on the Folger website well ahead of your trip.
The library also runs a busy programme of concerts, readings, and public lectures, many of them free. Thursday lunchtime concerts in the Great Hall are a particular local favourite and a wonderful way to spend an hour.
Lincoln Park: The Green Bookend
A ten-minute walk east of the Folger brings you to Lincoln Park, Capitol Hill's largest green space, dating to 1867. The park contains two powerful monuments: the Emancipation Memorial depicting Abraham Lincoln, and the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House statue — the first monument to a Black American woman on public land in DC.
The park is a genuine neighbourhood living room: dog walkers, families, and Hill staffers decompress here every evening. Grab a coffee from a nearby café and settle on a bench — it's the most human corner of an otherwise monumental neighbourhood.
Folger Shakespeare Library on video
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