The Memorial Church of Harvard University is a building on the campus of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. It is an inter-denominational

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church.

History

Predecessors

The first distinct building for worship at

was Holden Chapel, built in 1744. The college soon outgrew the building, which was replaced by a chapel inside Harvard Hall in 1766, then a chapel in University Hall in 1814, and finally by Appleton Chapel, a building dedicated solely to worship sited where Memorial Church now stands. Standing for 73 years before the current building, Appleton Chapel was home to religious life at Harvard until 1932. Its namesake is preserved inside Memorial Church, as the Appleton Chapel portion of the main building houses the daily service of Morning Prayer. When Appleton Chapel was built in 1858 thanks to the generosity of Samuel Appleton, Morning Prayer attendance was compulsory. When attendance became voluntary in 1886, the college was left with a building that had become too large for the Morning Prayer services and too small for the Sunday services. Although there was talk of building a more suitable chapel for worship at Harvard, nothing was done until soon after World War I when Harvard University President

Abbott Lawrence Lowell Abbott Lawrence Lowell (December 13, 1856 – January 6, 1943) was an American educator and legal scholar. He was President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. With an "aristocratic sense of mission and self-certainty," Lowell cut a large f ...

(1909–1933) combined the idea of a war memorial with the need for a new chapel. Appleton Chapel was torn down after the 1931 Commencement.Bethell, John T. ''Harvard Observed: An illustrated history of the University in the twentieth century''. Cambridge: Harvard Magazine Incorporated, 1998: 111. The University Architects Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott, were enlisted to design the new building, and they planned a structure that would complement the imposing edifice of Widener Library. This created an open area known as the Tercentenary Theatre, where Commencement Exercises are held.

Memorial Church

The current Memorial Church was built in 1932 in honor of the men and women of Harvard University who died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The names of 373 alumni were engraved within alongside a sculpture named ''The Sacrifice'' by Malvina Hoffman. It was dedicated on

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fran ...

on November 11, 1932. The knight's face in ''The Sacrifice'' was modelled on the British World War I flying ace, Ian Henderson. Since then, other memorials have been established within the building commemorating those Harvardians who later died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. For seventy-five years, it has stood in

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest part of the Harvard University campus, its historic center and modern crossroads. It contains most of the freshman dormitories, Harvard's most important libraries, Memorial Church, seve ...

opposite

Widener Library The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks, is the centerpiece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences) and, more broadly, of the ...

as a physical reminder of Harvard's spiritual heritage. Since its inception, the Harvard Memorial Church has had weekly choral music provided at its Sunday services by the

Harvard University Choir The Harvard University Choir, more commonly referred to as the University Choir or simply UChoir, is Harvard University's oldest choir. It has provided choral music for the Harvard Memorial Church and its predecessor church for over 180 years, and i ...

, which is composed of both graduate and undergraduate students in the university.

Gallery

Image:Memorial Church, Harvard Univ, Cambridge, Massachusetts.jpg Image:MemChurchSanctuary.jpg, Sanctuary in December Image:MemorialChurch2.jpg, Bustling Harvard Yard Image:MemorialChurchWinter.jpg, Winter time Image:MemorialRoom.jpg, World War I Memorial Image:MemorialChurchWWII.jpg, World War II Memorial Image:USA-Harvard Memorial Church Interior.jpg Image:USA-Harvard Memorial Church0.jpg Image:USA-Harvard Memorial Church1.jpg

References

External links

The Memorial Church – Home Page
{{Coord, 42, 22, 31.48, N, 71, 06, 57.77, W, display=title Harvard University buildings University and college chapels in the United States 1932 establishments in Massachusetts Churches in Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard Square