Stanford Memorial Church was established by Jane Stanford in memory of her husband, Leland Stanford, as a symbol of the family’s commitment to an education informed by religious, spiritual, moral and ethical values. Dedicated in 1903 as a non-sectarian religious center, “Mem Chu” remains the most prominent architectural feature of the Main Quadrangle and is home to University Public Worship. The church features five organs, including the Fisk-Nanney organ, which has 73 ranks and 4,332 pipes. It is one of three religious and spiritual spaces on campus led by the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life.

The 285-foot Hoover Tower was built in 1941 and dedicated as part of Stanford’s 50th anniversary celebration. The Hoover Observation Deck offers views of the Santa Clara Valley and houses a carillon of 48 bells, the largest inscribed “For Peace Alone Do I Ring.” The lobby features exhibitions on such topics as the institution’s founder—Stanford alumnus and U.S. president Herbert Hoover—and collections held at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

The 150-foot-diameter radiotelescope in the Stanford foothills called the Dish was constructed in the 1960s to probe the scattering properties of the Earth’s ionosphere. It is still in use and is owned and operated by SRI International. Annually, more than 600,000 people hike the service roads surrounding the Dish within Stanford’s 315-acre habitat reserve, which also supports academic programs, environmental restoration and habitat conservation. Public access is limited to daylight hours, and pets are prohibited.

Serving the Stanford campus, the Bay Area community, and visitors from around the world, the Cantor Arts Center provides an outstanding cultural experience for visitors of all ages. Founded when the university opened in 1891, the historic museum was expanded and renamed in 1999 for lead donors Iris and B. Gerald Cantor. The Cantor’s collection spans 5,000 years and includes more than 38,000 works of art from around the globe. These include our renowned collection of Rodin bronze sculptures, which are displayed inside the museum as well as in our outdoor Rodin Sculpture Garden. With 24 galleries and more than 15 special exhibitions each year, the Cantor is an established resource for teaching and research on campus. Free admission, tours, lectures, and family activities make the Cantor one of the most visited university art museums in the country.

Since it officially opened in 1985, The B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden has been open to the public twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Within a single acre lushly landscaped with cypress trees and gravel paths modeled after the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris, it comprises twenty monumental bronzes that include many of Rodin’s most famous sculptures including The Walking Man, two heads of the Burghers of Calais (the life size versions of which can be seen in Memorial Court in front of the Main Quad), Adam, Eve, and The Three Shades. Visually anchoring the garden at its eastern end is The Gates of Hell, a massive work cast by the Coubertin Foundry in 1981 using the lost-wax process favored by Rodin.