Welcome to the Land of Knowledge – Harvard University!

Harvard University is known all over the world. Who doesn’t want to study there? The University has an enrollment of over 20,000 degree candidates, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students every year and more than 360,000 alumni around the world.

Its campus is full of historical facts. Established in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

Libraries and museums

Firstly, you can see a wonderful Widener Library there, the second largest in the United States. It was named after Harry Elkins Widener who donated $3.5 million to Harvard to have a library built in her son’s name. The Harvard University Library System is centered in Widener Library in Harvard Yard and comprises nearly 80 individual libraries holding over 18 million volumes. There are rare books, manuscripts and other special collections throughout Harvard’s libraries; Houghton Library, the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and the Harvard University Archives consist principally of rare and unique materials.

Campus

Harvard’s main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, about 3 miles (4.8 km) west-northwest of the State House in downtown Boston, and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood. Harvard Yard itself contains the central administrative offices and main libraries of the university, academic buildings including Sever Hall and University Hall, Memorial Church, and the majority of the freshman dormitories.

Each residential house contains rooms for undergraduates, House masters, and resident tutors, as well as a dining hall and library. The facilities were made possible by a gift from Yale University alumnus Edward Harkness.

Athletics

Harvard has several athletic facilities, such as the Lavietes Pavilion, a multi-purpose arena and home to the Harvard basketball teams. The Malkin Athletic Center, known as the “MAC”, serves both as the university’s primary recreation facility and as a satellite location for several varsity sports. The MAC offers personal trainers and specialty classes. It is home to Harvard volleyball, fencing and wrestling. The Bright Hockey Center hosts the Harvard hockey teams, and the Murr Center serves both as a home for Harvard’s squash, tennis teams and conditioning center for all athletic sports.

The Harvard crew is typically considered to be one of the top teams in the country in rowing. Today, Harvard fields top teams in several other sports, such as the Harvard Crimson men’s ice hockey team, squash, and even recently won NCAA titles in Men’s and Women’s Fencing.

Harvard’s men’s ice hockey team won the school’s first NCAA Championship in any team sport in 1989. 

Harvard has several fight songs, the most played of which, especially at football, are “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard” and “Harvardiana”. The Harvard University Band perfoms these fight songs, and other cheers, at football and hockey games.

So, come to Harvard any time you want and enjoy spending the day there!

Kate Salii

Maria Sukhushina