Harvard University Photo Tour

Lowell House at Harvard University

 Nick Allen / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Harvard University typically ranks as the top university in the United States if not the world. It is also one of the most difficult schools to get into with a 5% acceptance rate. The urban campus provides an interesting mix of the historical and the modern, from well known Harvard Yard to contemporary state-of-the-art engineering facilities.

Harvard University Campus Features

  • Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, walking distance from MIT, Boston University, and many other colleges and universities.
  • Undergraduates live in one of twelve residential houses.
  • The campus is home to 14 museums including Peabody Museum and Harvard Museum of Natural History.
  • The Harvard Library system is the largest academic library in the world with 20.4 million volumes and 400 million manuscript items.

Harvard University Memorial Hall

Harvard University Memorial Hall
Harvard University Memorial Hall. timsackton / Flickr

Memorial Hall is one of the most iconic buildings on the Harvard campus. The building was constructed in the 1870s to commemorate men who fought in the Civil War. Memorial Hall is just off of Harvard Yard next to the Science Center. The building houses Annenberg Hall, a popular dining area for undergraduates, and Sanders Theatre, an impressive space used for concerts and lectures.

Harvard University - Interior of Memorial Hall

Harvard University - Interior of Memorial Hall
Harvard University - Interior of Memorial Hall. kun0me / Flickr

The high arched ceilings and Tiffany and La Farge stained-glass windows make the interior of Memorial Hall one of the most impressive spaces on Harvard's campus.

Harvard Hall and the Old Yard

Harvard Hall and the Old Yard
Harvard Hall and the Old Yard. Allie_Caulfield / Flickr

This view of the Harvard's Old Yard shows, from left to right, Matthews Hall, Massachusetts Hall, Harvard Hall, Hollis Hall and Stoughton Hall. The original Harvard Hall—the building with the white cupola—burned in 1764. The current building is home to several classrooms and lecture halls. Hollis and Stoughton -- the buildings on the far right—are freshman dormitories that once housed Al Gore, Emerson, Thoreau, and other famous figures.

Harvard University - Johnston Gate

Harvard University - Johnston Gate
Harvard University - Johnston Gate. timsackton / Flickr

The current gate was constructed in the late 19th century, but students have entered Harvard's campus through this same area since the mid 17th century. The statue of Charles Sumner can be seen just beyond the gate. Harvard Yard is entirely surrounded by a series of brick walls, iron fences and gates.

Harvard University Law Library

Harvard University Law Library
Harvard University Law Library. samirluther / Flickr

Harvard Law School is perhaps the most prestigious in the country. This highly selective school admits over 500 students a year, but that represents just over 10% of applicants. The school houses the largest academic law library in the world. The campus of the law school sits just north of Harvard Yard and west of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Harvard University Widener Library

Harvard University Widener Library
Harvard University Widener Library. darkensiva / Flickr

First opened in 1916, Widener Library is the largest of the dozens of libraries that make up the Harvard University library system. Widener adjoins Houghton Library, Harvard's primary rare-book and manuscript library. With over 15 million books in its collection, Harvard University has the largest holdings of any university.

Harvard University - Bessie the Rhino in front of Harvard's Bio Labs

Harvard University - Bessie the Rhino in front of Harvard's Bio Labs
Harvard University - Bessie the Rhino in front of Harvard's Bio Labs. timsackton / Flickr

Bessie and her companion Victoria have watched over the entrance to Harvard's Bio Labs since they were completed in 1937. The rhinos spent a two-year sabbatical in storage from 2003 to 2005 when Harvard built a new mouse research facility beneath the Bio Labs' courtyard. Many famous scientists have been photographed next to the pair of rhinos, and students love to dress up the poor beasts.

Harvard University - Statue of John Harvard

Harvard University - Statue of John Harvard
Harvard University - Statue of John Harvard. timsackton / Flickr

Sitting outside University Hall in the Old Yard, the statue of John Harvard is one of the university's popular locations for tourist photographs. The statue was first presented to the university in 1884. Visitor's may notice that John Harvard's left foot is shiny—it's a tradition to touch it for good luck.

The statue is sometimes referred to as the "Statue of Three Lies" because of misinformation it conveys: 1. The statue could not have been modeled after John Harvard since the sculptor would not have had access to a portrait of the man. 2. The inscription mistakenly says Harvard University was founded by John Harvard when, in fact, it was named after him. 3. The college was founded in 1636, not 1638 as the inscription claims.

Harvard University Museum of Natural History

Harvard University Museum of Natural History
Harvard University Museum of Natural History. Allie_Caulfield / Flickr

The Harvard University campus is home to several remarkable museums. Here visitors to the Museum of Natural History view a 42-foot long Kronosaurus that lived 153 million years ago.

Harvard Square Musicians

Harvard Square Musicians
Harvard Square Musicians. folktraveler / Flickr

Day and night visitors to Harvard Square will often stumble across sidewalk performances. Some of the talent is surprisingly good. Here Antje Duvekot and Chris O'Brien perform at Mayfair in Harvard Square.

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School. David Jones / Flickr

At the graduate level, Harvard Business School always ranks as one of the best in the country. Here Hamilton Hall can be seen from Anderson Memorial Bridge. The business school is located across the Charles River from Harvard's main campus.

Harvard University Boathouse

Harvard University Weld Boathouse
Harvard University Weld Boathouse. Lumidek / Wikimedia Commons

Rowing is a popular sport among most of the big Boston and Cambridge universities. The crew teams from Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and other area schools will often be seen practicing on the Charles River. Every fall the Head of the Charles regatta draws huge crowds along the river as hundreds of teams compete.

Built in 1906, the Weld Boathouse is a well-known landmark along the Charles River.

Snowy Bikes at Harvard University

Snowy Bikes at Harvard University
Snowy Bikes at Harvard University. Harvard Grad Student 2007 / Flickr

Anyone who has experienced traffic in Boston and Cambridge knows that the narrow and busy roads are not very bike-friendly. Nevertheless, the hundreds of thousands of college students in the greater Boston area frequently use bikes to get around.

Harvard University Statue of Charles Sumner

Harvard University Statue of Charles Sumner
Harvard University Statue of Charles Sumner. First Daffodils / Flikcr

Created by the American sculptor Anne Whitney, Harvard University's sculpture of Charles Sumner sits just inside Johnston Gate in front of Harvard Hall. Sumner was an important Massachusetts politician who used his position in the Senate to fight for the rights of formerly enslaved people during Reconstruction.

Tanner Fountain in Front of Harvard University's Science Center

Fountain in Front of Harvard University's Science Center
Fountain in Front of Harvard University's Science Center. dbaron / Flickr

Don't expect mundane public art at Harvard. The Tanner Fountain is made up of 159 stones arranged in a circle around a cloud of mist that changes with the light and seasons. In the winter, steam from the Science Center's heating system takes the place of the mist.

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Grove, Allen. "Harvard University Photo Tour." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/harvard-university-photo-tour-788549. Grove, Allen. (2021, February 16). Harvard University Photo Tour. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/harvard-university-photo-tour-788549 Grove, Allen. "Harvard University Photo Tour." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/harvard-university-photo-tour-788549 (accessed March 28, 2024).