Sather Tower facts for kids
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Sather Tower
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Sather Tower, from California Memorial Stadium, at sunset
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| Location | Berkeley, California |
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| Built | 1914 |
| Architect | John Galen Howard |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| MPS | Berkeley, University of California MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004650 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | March 25, 1982 |
Sather Tower is a tall bell tower located at the University of California, Berkeley campus. It has clocks on all four sides. Most people call it The Campanile because it looks like the famous Campanile di San Marco in Venice, Italy. It is a well-known symbol of the university.
The tower was a gift from Jane K. Sather to honor her husband, a banker named Peder Sather. It is the third-tallest bell and clock tower in the world. The tower has 61 bells that make up a musical instrument called a carillon. These bells can be heard from far away. The tower also helps teach people about campanology, which is the study of bells.
Sather Tower is also a special storage place for many fossils from the Department of Integrative Biology. Most of these fossils come from the La Brea Tar Pits. The tower's cool and dry inside helps keep them safe.
Contents
What is Sather Tower?
Sather Tower stands 307 feet (94 meters) tall. This makes it the third-tallest bell and clock tower in the world. It has seven main floors. On the eighth floor, there is an observation deck. This deck is 200 feet (61 meters) above the ground.
The tower was designed by John Galen Howard. He was the person who started the Department of Architecture at the university. Sather Tower was finished in 1915 and opened to visitors in 1916. It is a very important landmark on the campus.
The Carillon Bells
Sather Tower is home to a large concert carillon. It started with 12 bells in 1917. Later, it grew to 48 bells in 1979. Today, it has 61 bells.
During the school year, the carillon bells play music. They play for ten minutes on weekdays at 7:50 a.m., noon, and 6:00 p.m. On Saturdays, they play from 12:00 p.m. to 12:15 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. On Sundays, they play from 2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. The bells also ring every hour from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
On the last day of classes each semester, a special song is played at noon. After that, the carillon is quiet until after final exams.
Learning to Play the Bells
In 1983, Evelyn and Jerry Chambers gave money to support the carillon. This money helped create the job of University Carillonist. It also provided practice rooms, special keyboards for practice, and a library about bells. Every five years, there is an international Carillon Festival.
Students can take lessons to learn how to play the carillon. These lessons are offered through the Department of Music. Students first practice on special keyboards inside Sather Tower. Once they are ready, they can play the actual carillon bells.
Visiting the Tower
An elevator takes visitors 200 feet up to the observation deck. From there, you can see amazing views. You can see the campus, the hills around it, San Francisco, and the Golden Gate. There is a small fee to visit, but it is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and teachers.
Every year during "Big Game" week, the California Marching Band plays spirit songs from the top of the tower. This event is called the Campanile Concert. The music can be heard all over campus and in Berkeley.
Around the tower, there is a walkway with many London Plane trees. People often enjoy slacklining between these trees.
History of the Carillon Bells
The carillon at Berkeley started with twelve bells. They were made in 1915 by a company called John Taylor & Co in Loughborough, England. These first bells were a gift from Jane K. Sather. She also gave the university Sather Tower, Sather Gate, and money for teaching jobs in History and Classics.
The original bells were put in place in 1917. They were played for the first time on November 3, 1917. This was to celebrate the California football team's "Big Game." The bells were delayed because of World War I and problems with customs in San Francisco.
Special Inscriptions
All the first bells have the words "Gift of Jane K. Sather 1914" on them. This honors the person who gave the tower its name. The largest of these first bells has a special message from a Greek professor. It says, "We ring, we chime, we toll, / Lend ye the silent part / Some answer in the heart, / Some echo in the soul."
Today, the bells range in size. The smallest bells weigh about 19 pounds. The largest bell is called the "Great Bear Bell" and weighs 10,500 pounds. This huge bell rings on the hour. It has carvings of bears and the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) on it.
Adding More Bells
People soon realized that twelve bells were not enough to play many popular songs, including the national anthem. For many years, there were talks about adding more bells, but nothing happened.
In 1926, a thirteenth bell was added along with a clock. This clock and bell had been in another building since 1899.
In 1978, the university's Class of 1928 decided to add more bells as a gift for their 50th anniversary. They hoped to raise about $45,000 for a few new bells. But they raised over $150,000 in just a few days! So, they decided to make it a full carillon with 48 bells. A company from France, Fonderie Paccard, was chosen to make the new bells. The new carillon, which included the original twelve bells, was installed in 1979.
In 1983, Jerry Chambers and his wife Evelyn gave a large amount of money for the carillon. This money helped make the instrument even bigger. It became a fully chromatic, five-octave instrument with a low G note. The funds also paid for two floors of Sather Tower to be made into practice rooms. These rooms have two practice keyboards, a collection of books about bells, and a studio for the University Carillonist.
The Chambers Carillon funds are the only support for the carillon program at Berkeley. They pay for a full-time University Carillonist. This is one of only five such full-time jobs in North America. The funds also support a carillon festival every five years.
As of 2008, the carillon program is very active. About thirty students take lessons each semester. There are also many performances each week. A team of eight professional musicians plays the bells. The carillon program continues to be fully supported by the generous gift from Jerry and Evelyn Chambers.
See also
In Spanish: Sather Tower para niños
