Back, but Not to the U.S.S.R.

On the sweltering afternoon of July 8, more than 100 onlookers crowded Winthrop Street to watch the Lowell House bells descend...

Photograph by Jon Chase / Harvard News Office

Photograph by Jon Chase / Harvard News Office

Photograph by Jon Chase / Harvard News Office

Photograph by Jon Chase / Harvard News Office

Photograph by Justin Ide / Harvard News Office

Photograph by Justin Ide / Harvard News Office

[extra:Extra]

Hear a last ringing of Lowell House's old bells.

[video:https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/media/Bells.mp3 width:220 height:20]

On the sweltering afternoon of July 8, more than 100 onlookers (cell-phone cameras at the ready) crowded Winthrop Street to watch the Lowell House bells descend. After arriving at Harvard 78 years ago as refugees from Stalin’s anti-clerical campaign, the bells were returning to Moscow’s Danilov Monastery. While monks conducted a service, the crowd also got a peek at Lowell’s new Russian bells, resting on a nearby truck bed, waiting their turn to ring out over Cambridge.

Related topics

You might also like

A Harvard President’s VW Beetle That Kept On Giving

Derek Bok donated his car for a good cause.

Cambridge Once Fought Harvard’s DNA Research. Now There’s a Play About It.

A theatrical reenactment explores a 1976 clash between science and democracy.

Which Harvard Architecture Stands the Test of Time?

In a sea of red brick, the Science Center and Peabody Terrace make their mark.

Most popular

The Year a Beat Poet Squatted at Harvard

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

Keri Russell Calls ‘The Diplomat’ a Love Letter to Public Servants

A Harvard Kennedy School event looks behind the scenes of the Netflix drama. 

How Philosophy at Harvard Saved Itself

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

Explore More From Current Issue

St. Peter's Basilica at sunset, illuminated by purple and orange sky reflections in the river.

For advocacy and benevolence, three late alumni are reportedly in line for the Catholic Church’s highest honor.

Illuminated hanging sculptures resembling organic forms, casting warm light in a dim space.

Artists Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien turn a colonial symbol from Cambodia inside out.

A smiling man in a brown plaid suit stands outdoors with greenery in the background.

The professor and former Harvard College dean is the next president of Harvard Magazine’s Board of Directors