Stanford Mausoleum

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The Stanford Mausoleum, located in the northwest of the Stanford University campus in the Stanford University Arboretum, holds the remains of the university's namesake Leland Stanford, Jr. and his parents Leland and Jane Stanford.

The original intent of the Stanfords was to build a family mansion here. They had only gotten as far as planting a cactus garden (still present) before the death of their only son. They changed their plans to the building of a university instead. Nearby is a memorial (the Angel of Grief) to Jane Stanford's brother, Henry Clay Lathrop. This memorial is a 1908 copy of a 1901 copy of an 1894 statue by the prominent American sculptor William Wetmore Story.

The mausoleum has sphinxes on both the front and the back. The back ones are Greek and female with naked breasts. They were originally on the front but the Stanfords disapproved of them and replaced them with Egyptian style male sphinxes and moved the female sphinxes to the back.

The mausoleum is opened and a wreath laid once a year (in either March or April) as part of the Founders' Day activities. It is also the site of the Mausoleum Party, a traditional student Halloween party that did not occur in recent years, but was revived by student group Absolute Fun in 2006.