U . S .   N A T I O N A L   A R C H I V E S   A N D
R E C O R D S   A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

Washington, D.C.

Two enormous murals grace the rotunda. Painted by Barry Faulkner and installed in 1936, "The Declaration of Independence" and "The Constitution" were completely renovated in 2002 as part of a massive two year makeover effort to make the three important documents more accessable to the public. During that time, the marble rotunda was closed to the public. Believe it or not, each canvas weights 340 lbs. Wow!

Here's a glimpse of the ceiling.

Starting my clockwise romp around the rotunda, I first encounter a number of miscellaneous documents. Here's the first. The document itself is really hard to read, especially from a photo. There just isn't enough light in here.

Heck, even the placards are somewhat blurry. Just pretend you're really drunk when you look at them, as a way to not feel disappointed at what I've managed to put together here.

Here's a mini-copy of the Declaration of Independence. Wow, not only did they have copy machines back then, they also were able to shrink its size. Soon I'll be learning that George Washington walked on the Moon.