There’s a new spot on the University of Illinois Springfield campus where students could take the opportunity “to sleep, perchance to dream.”

UIS has unveiled its new “Shakespeare garden” — complete with a statue of the playwright — a way UIS is marking the four-hundredth anniversary of his death.

“You’ll find there are signs that are posted that have quotations from Shakespears, as well as the source from which the quote was taken,” says UIS Chancellor Susan Koch.

There’s also a decorative water fountain along with plenty of bench seating and other items.

“I like to remind my students the Renaissance was a rebirth not just of the arts in Shakespeare’s day, but a rebirth of sciences and arts, too,” says Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, UIS Director of Theater.  “This beautiful sculpture kind of reminds us that whatever one ends up doing for a living, attending the theater, reading the plays of Shakespeare, we’re all a little better off if we keep these habits.”

The Shakespeare Garden is located between Brookens Library and the UIS Police Station.  The U of I’s “Chester Fund” paid for the garden.