Pleiades: …Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione: Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope. They all had children by gods (except Merope, who married Sisyphus).

Mercury: There Mercury was associated with Maia, who became identified as his mother through her association with the Greek Maia, one of the Pleiades, who was the mother of Hermes by Zeus; likewise, because of that Greek connection, Mercury was considered the son of Jupiter. Both Mercury and Maia were honoured…

Richard Adams: …Swing (1980; film 1988) and Maia (1984) drew attention for their graphic depictions of sexuality. Adams took a different approach to anthropomorphism with Traveller (1988), told from the perspective of Robert E. Lee’s horse. He returned to his intrepid rabbits with Tales from Watership Down in 1996. Daniel (2006) concerns…

Lisbon: Disaster and reconstruction: He put Manuel da Maia, engineer in chief of the realm, in charge of five architects and soon had a plan for remaking the totally devastated centre of the Cidade Baixa (“Lower City”). The riverside palace had been destroyed, and its terrace was expanded to create the…

Benedetto da Maiano was an early Renaissance sculptor, whose work is characterized by its decorative elegance and realistic detail. He was greatly influenced by the Florentine sculptor Antonio Rossellino. His earliest surviving work is the shrine of S. Savino (1468–72) in the Faenza cathedral.

spikenard: …family Asparagaceae, is sometimes called wild spikenard.

Îles du Vent: Maiao, covering about 3 square miles (8 square km) and located some 60 miles (95 km) west of Tahiti, is sparsely populated and is cultivated for copra. Tetiaroa, 25 miles (40 km) north of Tahiti, comprises 13 islets, with a total area of 2.5 square…

José Maria de Eça de Queirós: …Queirós’s masterpiece, Os Maias (1888; The Maias), a detailed depiction of upper-middle-class and aristocratic Portuguese society. Its theme is the degeneration of a traditional family whose last offspring are led into a series of tangled sexual relationships by the actions of their parents, who are symbols of the decadence of…

Maiasaura, (genus Maiasaura), duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs) found as fossils from the Late Cretaceous Period (about 100 million to 65.5 million years old) of North America and whose discovery led to the theory that these bipedal herbivores cared for their young. In 1978 a Maiasaura nesting

Constantin Brancusi: Maturity of Constantin Brancusi: …of polished-bronze sculptures, all entitled Bird in Space. The elliptical, slender lines of these figures put the very essence of rapid flight into concrete form.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: …an Italian composer whose intermezzo La serva padrona (“The Maid Turned Mistress”) was one of the most celebrated stage works of the 18th century.

ballad: Romantic comedies: …such ballad heroines as “The Maid Freed from the Gallows” and “Fair Annie,” among others, win through to happiness after such bitter trials that the price they pay seems too great. The course of romance runs hardly more smoothly in the many ballads, influenced by the cheap optimism of…

Wayne Wang: Career: …film was the romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan (2002). It starred Ralph Fiennes as a wealthy political candidate who mistakes a hotel maid, played by Jennifer Lopez, for a socialite. The family drama Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) and the romantic comedy Last Holiday (2006), starring rappers-turned-actors Queen Latifah and

Robin Hood: …(which gave Robin a companion, Maid Marian) also lost most of their vitality and poetic value, doubtless as a result of losing the original social impulse that brought them into existence.

Philip Massinger: Another tragicomedy, The Maid of Honour (1621?), combines political realism with the courtly refinement of later Caroline drama. The tendency of his serious plays to conform to Caroline fashion, however, is contradicted by the mordant realism and satirical force of his two great comedies—A New Way to…

Margaret was the queen of Scotland from 1286 to 1290, the last of the line of Scottish rulers descended from King Malcolm III Canmore (ruled 1058–93). Margaret’s father was Eric II, king of Norway; her mother, Margaret, a daughter of King Alexander III of Scotland (ruled 1249–86), died in 1283.

Friedrich Schiller: Philosophical studies and classical drama of Friedrich Schiller: …Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801; The Maid of Orleans), a “romantic tragedy” on the subject of Joan of Arc, in which the heroine dies in a blaze of glory after a victorious battle, rather than at the stake like her historical prototype; Die Braut von Messina (1803; The Bride of…

St. Joan of Arc ; canonized May 16, 1920; feast day May 30; French national holiday, second Sunday in May) was a national heroine of France, a peasant girl who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans that repulsed an English

Frans Eemil Sillanpää: …perfect, work, Nuorena nukkunut (1931; Fallen Asleep While Young, or The Maid Silja), a story of an old peasant family. Realistic and lyric elements are blended in Miehen tie (1932; Way of a Man), which describes a young farmer’s growth to maturity. Ihmiset suviyössä (1934; People in the Summer Night)…

Kolkata: Recreation: The Maidan, about 1,000 acres (400 hectares) in area, is the best-known open space; the major football (soccer), cricket, and hockey fields are located there. Adjacent to the Maidan is one of the oldest cricket fields in the world, Ranji Stadium, in the Eden Gardens; Netaji…

Ukraine: The Maidan protest movement: Ukraine’s pro-European trajectory was abruptly halted in November 2013, when a planned association agreement with the EU was scuttled just days before it was scheduled to be signed. The accord would have more closely integrated political and economic ties between the EU…

Kyiv: City layout: …of the Maidan (also called Euromaidan) protest movement that led to Ukrainian Pres. Viktor Yanukovych’s being deposed in February 2014. Among important buildings on the street is that of the city council, where the elected deputies hold their meetings.

Ukraine: The Maidan protest movement: Ukraine’s pro-European trajectory was abruptly halted in November 2013, when a planned association agreement with the EU was scuttled just days before it was scheduled to be signed. The accord would have more closely integrated political and economic ties between the EU…

Majdanek, Nazi German concentration camp and extermination camp on the southeastern outskirts of the city of Lublin, Poland. In October 1941 it received its first prisoners, mainly Soviet prisoners of war, virtually all of whom died of hunger and exposure. Within a year, however, it was converted

Maitreya, in Buddhist tradition, the future Buddha, presently a bodhisattva residing in the Tushita heaven, who will descend to earth to preach anew the dharma (“law”) when the teachings of Gautama Buddha have completely decayed. Maitreya is the earliest bodhisattva around whom a cult developed and

Dorchester: …Rings dates from pre-Roman times; Maiden Castle (2 miles [3 km] southwest), a vast earthwork encircled by entrenchments and ramparts and occupying more than 120 acres (50 hectares), was the site of important settlement from Neolithic times into the Iron Age.

Robert Bly: …in Iron John and also The Maiden King: The Reunion of Masculine and Feminine (1999), written with Marion Woodman. Bly’s collected prose poems appeared in 1992 under the title What Have I Ever Lost by Dying?

cricket: Overs: …byes), he has achieved a maiden over. In one-day cricket, no bowler is allowed to bowl more than 10 overs in a 50-over match.

pink: Major species: …pink (Dianthus plumarius); maiden, or meadow, pink (D. deltoides); and rainbow, or China, pink (D. chinensis). Other important plants of the genus Dianthus are also sometimes referred to as pinks. The popular carnation (D. caryophyllus), for example, is often called clove pink in reference to its spicy scent, and sweet…

Leandro Fernández de Moratín: …of convenience, as seen in El sí de las niñas (1806; The Maiden’s Consent). Because of political and ecclesiastical opposition to his French sympathies, he spent most of his life after 1814 in France, where he died; he was buried between his models Molière and Jean de La Fontaine, but…

plant: Annotated classification: Polystichum, Adiantum, and Cyathea. Class Equisetopsida (horsetails, scouring rushes) Vascular plants; sporophyte differentiated into stem, leaf, and root; stems ribbed and jointed, monopodial; minute leaves whorled at the nodes; vascular tissue organized into bundles; sole living genus with

Pteridaceae, the maidenhair fern family (order Polypodiales), containing about 50 genera and approximately 950 species. Members of Pteridaceae are distributed throughout the world, especially in tropical and warm-temperate regions. The plants are extremely diverse ecologically, ranging from

ginkgo, (Ginkgo biloba), deciduous gymnosperm tree (family Ginkgoaceae), native to China. Ginkgo has been planted since ancient times in Chinese and Japanese temple gardens and is now valued in many parts of the world as a fungus- and insect-resistant ornamental tree. It tolerates cold weather and,

Maidenhead, town, Windsor and Maidenhead unitary authority, historic county of Berkshire, southeastern England. It is situated on the River Thames. A stone bridge (1772–77) carries the road between London and Bath across the river, and the railway bridge (1837–38) designed by Isambard Kingdom

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: …the Box Tunnel and the Maidenhead Railway Bridge, and his last were the Chepstow and Saltash (Royal Albert) bridges, all in England. The Maidenhead Railway Bridge had the flattest brick arch in the world. Brunel’s use of a compressed-air caisson to sink the pier foundations for the bridge helped gain…

Gabriele D’Annunzio: …Le vergini delle rocce (1896; The Maidens of the Rocks), featured viciously self-seeking and wholly amoral Nietzschean heroes.

John Fletcher: …the Beaumont and Fletcher collaboration—Philaster, The Maides Tragedy, and A King and No King—show, most clearly in the last, the emergence of most of the features that distinguish the Fletcherian mode from that of Shakespeare, George Chapman, or John Webster: the remote, often pseudohistorical, fairy-tale setting; the clear, smooth speech…

Gahanbar: …of Mitrā; 80 days later, Maidhyāirya (Midwinter), in the month of Dīn; and 75 days later, in the last five intercalary or Gatha days of the year, Hamaspathmaēdaya (a festival for the dead).

Gahanbar: …five days, the Gahanbars are: Maidhyaōizaremaya (Midspring), occurring in the month of Artavahisht, 41 days after the New Year (Nowruz); 60 days later is Maidhyoishema (Midsummer), in the month of Tīr; 75 days later, Paitishhahya (Harvest-time), in the month of Shatvairō; 30 days later, Ayāthrima (possibly Time of Prosperity), in…

Gahanbar: …(Nowruz); 60 days later is Maidhyoishema (Midsummer), in the month of Tīr; 75 days later, Paitishhahya (Harvest-time), in the month of Shatvairō; 30 days later, Ayāthrima (possibly Time of Prosperity), in the month of Mitrā; 80 days later, Maidhyāirya (Midwinter), in the month of Dīn; and 75 days later, in…

Las Meninas, oil painting created in 1656 by iconic Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. Las Meninas shows Velázquez late in his career and at the height of his powers. Its complex composition creates an unparallelled illusion of reality and is a reason that it is one of the most important paintings in

Jean Genet: Les Bonnes (1947; The Maids), however, begins to explore the complex problems of identity that were soon to preoccupy other avant-garde dramatists such as Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco. With this play Genet was established as an outstanding figure in the Theatre of the Absurd.

Maidstone, town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. It is located astride the River Medway, 38 miles (61 km) southeast of London. The largely rural borough surrounding the town covers a large area of central Kent. The name Maidstone is derived

Maidstone: Maidstone, town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. It is located astride the River Medway, 38 miles (61 km) southeast of London. The largely rural borough surrounding the town covers a large area of central Kent.

dinosaur: The first finds: It became known as the Maidstone Iguanodon, after the village where it was discovered. The Maidstone skeleton provided the first glimpse of what these creatures might have looked like.

Maidu, North American Indians who spoke a language of Penutian stock and originally lived in a territory extending eastward from the Sacramento River to the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains and centring chiefly in the drainage of the Feather and American rivers in California, U.S. As with other

Penutian languages: …languages), Yokutsan (three languages), and Maiduan (four languages)—plus Klamath-Modoc, Cayuse (extinct), Molale (extinct), Coos, Takelma (extinct), Kalapuya, Chinook (not to be confused with Chinook Jargon, a trade language or lingua franca),

Maiduguri, capital and largest city of Borno state, northeastern Nigeria. It is located along the seasonal Ngadda (Alo) River, the waters of which disappear in the firki (“black cotton”) swamps of Lake Chad, northeast of the city. Modern Maiduguri actually comprises the twin towns of Yerwa and

Hermann Maier is an Austrian skier who won two gold medals at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and one silver at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. As a child Maier idolized the great World Cup skiers of the day, including fellow countryman Franz Klammer. Maier’s father owned a skiing

Johann Eck was a German theologian who was Martin Luther’s principal Roman Catholic opponent. Early in his career Maier adopted the name of his home village, Egg (or Eck), as his surname. He studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Tübingen, Cologne, and Freiburg im Breisgau. He was ordained to

alchemy: Modern alchemy: …II made the German alchemist Michael Maier a count and his private secretary, although Maier’s mystical and allegorical writings were, in the words of a modern authority, “distinguished for the extraordinary obscurity of his style” and made no claim to gold making. Neither did the German alchemist Heinrich Khunrath (c.…

Bayern Munich: …footballers of all time: goalkeeper Sepp Maier, forward Gerd Müller, and defender Franz Beckenbauer. Müller was the Bundesliga’s top scorer for seven seasons and remains the league’s all-time leading scorer. With strong support from other outstanding German players, such as Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner, Bayern began

Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer who lived her life in obscurity as a nanny and caregiver in the suburbs of Chicago while producing an expansive body of photographic work that became a media sensation in late 2010, nearly two years after her death. Discovered in 2007, a

Mali: 2020 and 2021 coups and transitional administration: …minister and prominent M5 leader Choguel Maïga the new interim prime minister.

Mayo, county in the province of Connaught, western Ireland. Mayo is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean (north and west) and by Counties Sligo (northeast), Roscommon (east), and Galway (southeast and south). Castlebar, in central Mayo, is the county town (seat). Other important towns include Ballina (the

Jules Maigret, fictional character, an unassuming, compassionate, and streetwise Parisian police commissioner who is the protagonist of more than 80 novels by Georges Simenon. Simenon’s books featuring Inspector Maigret include Pietr-le-Letton (1931; The Case of Peter the Lett), Le Chien jaune

spider crab, any species of the decapod family Majidae (or Maiidae; class Crustacea). Spider crabs, which have thick, rather rounded bodies and long, spindly legs, are generally slow-moving and sluggish. Most are scavengers, especially of dead flesh. Majids, a widely distributed marine group, are

Mai-chi-shan, one of three major sites in northern China’s Kansu sheng (province) where rock-cut Buddhist caves and sculpture are found. The more than 190 sculptures now visible are carved in nearly 1,000 caves and recesses on the cliff faces that are more than 400 feet (120 m) high. A

Maikala Range, mountain range in Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It runs in a north-south direction and forms the eastern base of the triangular Satpura Range. The Maikala Range consists of laterite-capped, flat-topped plateaus (pats) with elevations ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 feet (600 to

Maiko National Park, reserve in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, about equidistant from Bukavu, in the great Western Rift Valley just south of Lake Kivu, at the Rwandan border, and Kisangani, about 320 miles (515 km) to the northwest, at the great westward bend of the Congo River. The

Suo Masayuki: …Suo directed the musical comedy Maiko wa redî (2014; Lady Maiko) and the historical dramedy Katsuben! (2019; Talking the Pictures).

Maykop, city and capital of the republic of Adygea, Krasnodar kray (territory), Russia, on the right bank of the Belaya River. Maykop (from the Adyghian myequape meaning “valley of apple trees”) was founded in 1857 as a Russian fortress. Food processing is the city’s leading industry; metalworking,

enamelwork: Ancient Western: …these Kuban enamels, the famous Maikop belt buckle (the Hermitage, Leningrad) depicting a griffin attacking a horse, is now regarded by Russian experts as a forgery. Consequently, the earliest enamelling from south Russia may date from the 3rd or 2nd century bce.

mail, the postal matter consigned under public authority from one person or post office to another. See postal

chain mail, form of body armour worn by European knights and other military men throughout most of the medieval period. An early form of mail, made by sewing iron rings to fabric or leather, was worn in late Roman times and may have originated in Asia, where such mail continued to be worn for many

postal system: United States: Free collection services came with the provision of street letter boxes in 1858. A free delivery service was established in 1863, covering 49 cities and employing 440 letter carriers. By 1900 the service was provided at 796 offices by 15,322 carriers. The rural free delivery (RFD)…

postal system: Postal operations and management: …identity and are grouped for delivery to the individual address. In most countries, delivery is on a house-to-house basis, although boxes at a local post office are sometimes used.

postal system: Automation of mail handling: Since the 1950s there has been a marked intensification of research and development efforts to apply technology to the handling of mails, especially in countries faced by manpower problems and higher labour costs. The wide variety of projects undertaken in many countries and…

postal system, the institution—almost invariably under the control of a government or quasi-government agency—that makes it possible for any person to send a letter, packet, or parcel to any addressee, in the same country or abroad, in the expectation that it will be conveyed according to certain

postal system: Postal operations and management: The collection and sorting of individual items by the most economic method, concentrating together all items that are going to the same place or in the same direction, involves the use of local transport, usually operated by the postal services themselves, and sorting offices. The size of the…

scorpaeniform, (order Scorpaeniformes), any one of a group of bony fishes that are characterized by a plate of bone running across each cheek. The scorpaeniforms are widespread throughout the oceans of the world. They are believed to have originated in warm marine waters but have invaded temperate

absentee voting, electoral process that enables persons who cannot appear at their designated polling places to vote from another location. The usual method of absentee voting is by mail, although provision is sometimes made for voting at prescribed places in advance of the polling date. Absentee

mail-order business, method of merchandising in which the seller’s offer is made through mass mailing of a circular or catalog or through an advertisement placed in a newspaper or magazine and in which the buyer places an order by mail. Delivery of the goods may be made by freight, express, or

Yuri Milner: ru, which, as Mail.ru, became one of Russia’s most successful Internet companies. Milner was its chief executive officer (2001–03). In 2005 Milner cofounded the holding company Digital Sky Technologies, which acquired control of Mail.ru and between 2005 and 2011 invested some $1 billion in more than two dozen…

János, Count Mailáth was a Hungarian writer and historian, who interpreted Magyar culture to the Germans and who wrote a sympathetic account of the Habsburg monarchy. Mailáth, the son of Count Jozsef Mailáth, an imperial minister of state, entered government service but soon had to resign because

postal system: United States: …with the provision of street letter boxes in 1858. A free delivery service was established in 1863, covering 49 cities and employing 440 letter carriers. By 1900 the service was provided at 796 offices by 15,322 carriers. The rural free delivery (RFD) service was introduced in 1896 and town delivery…

Norman Mailer was an American novelist and journalist best known for using a form of journalism—called New Journalism—that combines the imaginative subjectivity of literature with the more objective qualities of journalism. Both Mailer’s fiction and his nonfiction made a radical critique of the

Norman Mailer was an American novelist and journalist best known for using a form of journalism—called New Journalism—that combines the imaginative subjectivity of literature with the more objective qualities of journalism. Both Mailer’s fiction and his nonfiction made a radical critique of the

acrylamide: Manufacture and applications of acrylamide: …forms of heating initiate the Maillard reaction, in which reducing sugars (simple monosaccharides capable of carrying out reduction reactions) present in carbohydrate-rich foods react with amino acids to produce acrylamide. Asparagine appears to be the primary amino acid involved in the generation of acrylamide via the Maillard reaction.

Robert Maillart was a Swiss bridge engineer whose radical use of reinforced concrete revolutionized masonry arch bridge design. After studying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zürich, where he received a degree in structural engineering in 1894, Maillart worked for several private

Nicolas Desmarets, marquis de Maillebois was the minister of finance during the last seven years of the reign (1643–1715) of Louis XIV of France. A nephew of Louis’s great finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Desmarets rose rapidly in financial administration, but on Colbert’s death (1683) he

New Brunswick: The arts: Antonine Maillet, an Acadian novelist and playwright from Bouctouche, achieved international recognition for her writing in French, which strikingly reveals the 17th-century idiom and structure of the language as spoken by today’s Acadians.

Aristide Maillol was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaker whose monumental statues of female nudes display a concern for mass and rigorous formal analysis. Maillol began his artistic career as a painter and tapestry designer; his early work reflected his great admiration for the Nabis, a

Paris: Medieval development and discord (12th century to 16th century): …a revolt called the “Maillotin uprising.” The rioters, armed with mauls (maillets), were ruthlessly put down, and the municipal function was suspended for the next 79 years. It was not until 1533, when Francis I ordered the teetering House of Pillars replaced by a new building, that a monarch…

Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchess de Châteauroux was a mistress of Louis XV of France who used her influence with the king to promote French involvement in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). The fifth daughter of Louis de Mailly, Marquis de Nesle, Marie-Anne was married in 1734 to the

Louis XV: Already Pauline de Mailly-Nesle, marquise de Vintimille, Louis’s mistress from 1739 to 1741, had sponsored the war party that brought France into the inconclusive War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) against Austria and Great Britain. In September 1745 the king took as his official mistress (maîtresse…

Karl Malone is a former basketball player who owns the National Basketball Association (NBA) career record for free throws attempted (13,188) and made (9,787). He also ranks third in career points scored (36,928), field goals made (13,528), and minutes played (54,852). In 1996 Malone, known as “the

Theodore H. Maiman was an American physicist, who constructed the first laser, a device that produces monochromatic coherent light, or light in which the rays are all of the same wavelength and phase. The laser has found numerous practical uses, ranging from delicate surgery to measuring the

Theodore H. Maiman was an American physicist, who constructed the first laser, a device that produces monochromatic coherent light, or light in which the rays are all of the same wavelength and phase. The laser has found numerous practical uses, ranging from delicate surgery to measuring the

Meymaneh, town, northwestern Afghanistan. It lies at the northern foot of the Torkestān Mountain Range at an elevation of 2,850 feet (870 m). The town serves an agricultural area irrigated from the Qeyṣār River and also handles the trade in Karakul sheep with nomads. Meymaneh is linked with

Mmusi Maimane is a South African businessman and politician who has been active in opposition parties in the country. Since 2022, he has been the head of the Build One South Africa (BOSA) party, which he helped establish. Since 2024, he has served in the National Assembly as one of BOSA’s MPs. He

Mmusi Maimane is a South African businessman and politician who has been active in opposition parties in the country. Since 2022, he has been the head of the Build One South Africa (BOSA) party, which he helped establish. Since 2024, he has served in the National Assembly as one of BOSA’s MPs. He

Louis Maimbourg was a French Jesuit and historian who wrote critical works on Calvinism and Lutheranism and a defense of Gallican liberties—the belief that the Roman Catholic church in France should maintain some independence from papal control. Maimbourg was born to a noble family. He entered the

Salomon Maimon was a Jewish philosopher whose acute Skepticism caused him to be acknowledged by the major German philosopher Immanuel Kant as his most perceptive critic. He combined an early and extensive familiarity with rabbinic learning with a proficiency in Hebrew, and, after acquiring a

Erich Mendelsohn: …his important works include the Maimonides Hospital (1946). To his credit also are synagogues and community centres in St. Louis, Mo.; Cleveland, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and St. Paul, Minn.

Moses Maimonides was a Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician, the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His first major work, begun at age 23 and completed 10 years later, was a commentary on the Mishna, the collected Jewish oral laws. A monumental code of Jewish law followed in

African literature: French: Abdoulaye Sadji of Senegal wrote Maïmouna (1958; Eng. trans. Maïmouna), about an African girl who leaves home and goes to Dakar, where she is seduced. She returns to her home and bears a child who dies; she becomes ill but then recovers her traditional roots.

Mongo Beti: Main basse sur le Cameroun (1972; “Rape of Cameroon”), a book explaining the emplacement of a neocolonial regime in his homeland, was immediately banned in France and in Cameroon. Two years later he published the novels Perpétue et l’habitude du malheur (1974; Perpetua and the…

Main Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s largest botanical gardens. Founded in 1945, it occupies a 360-hectare (889-acre) site in Moscow, Russia. About 21,000 varieties of plants are cultivated, many of which are native to Russia. One of its unique features is a large

Library of Congress: The Thomas Jefferson Building (originally called the Congressional Library, or Main Building) houses the Main Reading Room. Designed in Italian Renaissance style, it was completed in 1897 and magnificently restored 100 years later. The John Adams Building, completed in 1939, received its current name in 1980…