The Alma Mater is the defining symbol of the University of Illinois — a bronze woman with her arms outstretched, her robes flowing, standing at the heart of the main Quad with the neo-Gothic tower of Altgeld Hall rising directly behind her. Sculptor Lorado Taft, himself an Illinois alumnus, designed her with a deliberately welcoming pose, as if she is embracing every student who passes.
The statue is the first and last stop for most campus visits and the site of graduation photographs for generations of Illinois alumni. She stands facing the main Quad, which stretches across several blocks of the central campus — an open space ringed by the most architecturally ambitious buildings on campus. The setting on a clear autumn day, with the red oaks turning and Altgeld's tower lit against the sky, is genuinely beautiful.