Believe it or Not: Pentagon Facts

The Pentagon...

• is bigger than nine out of 10 U.S. towns

• has no marble because it was built during World War II, and Italy, the source of marble, was an enemy country

• was designed as a temporary facility

• contains a 5-acre courtyard that is the world's largest no-hat, no-salute zone (so active-duty service members can sit and have lunch "without having to repeatedly stand and hit themselves in the forehead with their sandwiches," explains Fontana)

• has 41,492 columns holding it up (no steel framing was used because of the war)

• held 33,000 people at its peak in the 1950s

• could fit the U.S. Capitol into any one of its five sides

• has its own medical facilities, post office, mini-mall, Metro station, heliport, fire station, heating and refrigeration plant and sewage treatment facility.