Campus & Community

All told in gold

2 min read

Harvard’s twinkling icons

While Harvard is known for its trademark crimson, it’s the flourishes of amber and suntanned illuminations scattered across campus that surprise and resonate. Whether emanating from lamps inside the Yard, an oft-rubbed toe on a famed statue, or reflecting off the Charles River in the early morning hours, you could say that gold is Harvard’s secret color.

A single fallen leaf landed on the horseshoe-shaped bench in the Sunken Garden in Radcliffe Yard. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Golden light is emitted from a first-floor office in the Carpenter Center. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard’s Hutchins Center gleams from Mount Auburn Street. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
A Glaucus atlanticus decorates Harvard’s BioLabs. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
The portrait inside the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library is encircled in gold. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
An ornate volume inside the Widener Library. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
Custodian Wilfredy Espinal of Campus Services shines “Topological III” by the artist Robert R. Wilson in the Science Center foyer. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
A trashcan at Memorial Church mirrors the ceiling. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Marble chandeliers glint inside Memorial Church. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
An eagle sees all inside the church. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Brilliant Veritas mugs for sale at the Harvard Coop. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Computer bug: This moth is part of a Science Center display on the history of the Mark II computer. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
A game of chess in Harvard Square. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Even the chairs at Harvard Divinity School glow. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
Bronze light inside Gordon Hall at Harvard Medical School. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
The famed foot of John Harvard. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
A glorious morning along the Charles. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer