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Memorial Church of Harvard University
Memorial Church of Harvard University in November 2025
Memorial Church of Harvard University
42°22′30″N71°06′58″W / 42.3749°N 71.1161°W /42.3749; -71.1161
Location	Harvard Yard
Address	Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Denomination	Inter-denominationalProtestant
Website	Official website
History
Dedicated	November 11, 1932 (Armistice Day)
Architecture
Architect	Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott
Completed	1932
Laity
Music group	Harvard University Choir

TheMemorial Church of Harvard University is a building on the campus ofHarvard University. It is aninterdenominationalProtestant church.^[1]

The first distinct building for worship atHarvard University 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 ofSamuel 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.

FollowingWorld War I, Harvard University PresidentAbbott Lawrence Lowell (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.^[2] The University ArchitectsCoolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott, were enlisted to design the new building, and they planned a structure that would complement the imposing edifice ofWidener Library. This created an open area known as the Tercentenary Theatre, where Commencement Exercises are held.

The current Memorial Church was built in 1932 in honor of the men and women of Harvard University who died inWorld War I. The names of 373 alumni were engraved within alongside a sculpture namedThe Sacrifice byMalvina Hoffman.^[2] It was dedicated onArmistice Day on November 11, 1932.^[2] The knight's face inThe Sacrifice was modelled on the British World War I flying ace,Ian Henderson.^[3]

Since then, other memorials have been established within the building commemorating those Harvardians who later died inWorld War II, theKorean War, and theVietnam War. For seventy-five years, it has stood inHarvard Yard oppositeWidener Library 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 theHarvard University Choir, which is composed of both graduate and undergraduate students in the university.

A 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) bell cast in 1926 by theJohn Taylor & Co foundry in London was used to call students to classes and to morning prayers each morning.^[4] The bell, inscribed "In memory of the voices that are hushed," honors students who died in World War I.^[4] The bell cracked in 2011, and university officials determined that it could not be repaired.^[4] However, in 2017 a restoration was successfully completed, and the bell was placed on display on the west portico of the Memorial Church.^[4]

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  Bustling Harvard Yard
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  Winter time
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  World War I Memorial
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  World War II Memorial
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Wikimedia Commons has media related toAppleton Chapel, Harvard College.

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• Harvard Memorial Church – Home Page

42°22′30″N71°06′58″W / 42.3749095°N 71.1161574°W /42.3749095; -71.1161574

• Harvard University buildings and structures
• University and college chapels in the United States
• 1932 establishments in Massachusetts
• Churches in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Harvard Square

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