Columbia University - one of the oldest in the United States. From the walls came about a hundred Nobel Prize winners, dozens of heads of state, famous writers, actors and journalists. Columbia Campus of interest not only as an architectural monument - here you can look at the lives of modern American students.

He founded the University before the War of Independence, King George II, calling it the Royal College. There he studied the young Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States and founder of the financial system. Hamilton statue now stands on campus.

Upon reaching the colonies independence, King's College was renamed Columbia (Columbia - female figure personifying the United States). In 1787, the charter was adopted by the institution on which it lives today. Under this statute manages an independent board of trustees. In 1896, the Council formally authorized the use of a new name: Columbia University.

University building he designed and built in the Beaux Arts architectural firm "McKim, Mead and White." The main campus at the end of the XIX century takes six quarters (about 13 acres) in northern Manhattan, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Here are the academic buildings, library, two dozen student dormitories, apartments professors, graduate students and staff. The buildings are connected to an extensive system of old tunnels, some of which are open to visitors.

The administrative center of the university - Low Memorial Library, neo-classical building with a powerful Ionic colonnade and a huge dome. In front of the library in 1904 by a sculpture "Alma Mater" of Daniel Chester French's work, considered a symbol of the University. This figure of a seated goddess Athena, in the folds of his cloak which hides an owl, the symbol of knowledge. One legend says that a student who finds an owl, always marry a girl from a neighboring female Barnard College.

On campus is a wonderful chapel of St. Paul, designed and built in 1907 by architect Phelps Stokes. Its architecture features a mixture of styles - the Italian Renaissance, Byzantine and Gothic. The dome of the chapel is surrounded by sixteen arched windows inside - gorgeous stained glass, bronze chandeliers, commemorative plaques perpetuate significant moments in the history of the university.

Columbia University - a member of the prestigious Ivy League. It was here that a group of scientists, which included Enrico Fermi started the study, later turned into the Manhattan Project (the acquiring nuclear weapons). Under the authority of the University is the Pulitzer Prize, which is presented annually for the highest achievements in journalism. President Barack Obama graduated from Columbia, being in good company: some local graduates were five founding fathers of the United States, and President Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.