New Web Site Will Offer Visitors Virtual Harvard Campus Tour

The crowds of tourists around John Harvard's statute may thin soon, when the Harvard News Office launches a virtual campus tour, to be accessible at www.harvard.edu.

University spokesperson Joe Wrinn said the Web site, which is still under construction, will "make the University more accessible to people who aren't here" without disturbing Faculty and students.

Wrinn says he has heard that Harvard is the third biggest tourist attraction in Boston, and the tour will allow outsiders to glimpse the interior of buildings into which only those with Harvard ID cards are currently allowed.

Michael Quan, who is a photographer for the new virtual tour, said the project has been in the works for about a year.

Currently the project is in the proofing stages, and not all the pictures have been taken.

The goal, Quan said, is to do a "soft release" in about a month, allowing people to access the tour and offer feedback.

Quan said that the on-line tour mimics the tour given by the admissions office.

Quan photographed the paths between buildings, the John Harvard statue and Widener Library, among other locations.

The site will allow people to click on a building and go inside, exploring a reading room in Widener or the inside of a first-year dorm room.

Grays, Matthews and Weld halls have been photographed, and Quan is working on shooting dorms on the other side of the Yard.

The text that will accompany the pictures will come from the News Office.

Quan says that the tour could last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, depending on if someone is interested in reading all the text and "entering" all of the pictures.