This Virtual Cache will bring you to Sather Gate, one of the most iconic landmarks on the UC Berkeley campus. It serves as the main artery of foot traffic on campus and is a quintessential backdrop for graduation photos. This cache involves visiting the site and taking a photo with the gate (see fulll logging requirements below).
A note on parking and navigation: it is not possible to drive directly to the gate, so please do not blindly trust any navigation services. As of the time of publication, public parking on campus is not available Monday through Friday from 2 AM - 5 PM. Even outside of those hours, parking is extremely limited, and you are better off finding parking several blocks away.
History of Sather Gate
Peder Sather was born in Norway in 1810, emigrated to the United States in 1832, and eventually made his fortune as a banker in San Francisco, becoming one of California's wealthiest men in the 1860s. A public-spirited philanthropist and eager supporter of public education, Sather was elected to the Board of Trustees of the College of California in 1860. That institution worked to establish California's first university: today's University of California Berkeley. Jane K. Sather (née Krom) was born in New York in 1824. After becoming widowed in 1880, she met Peder, and the two married in 1882. After Peder died in 1886, Jane lived on a large estate in Oakland for another quarter-century. She donated a significant portion of Peder's fortune to the university, involving transfers of both money and land. Jane's philanthropy toward the university was sweeping in scope: beyond the gate that bears her husband's name and campanile tower that bears her name, she endowed a Peder Sather Chair in History and a chair in Classics, the latter rotating among visiting scholars who give public lectures. These "Sather Professorships" now carry their own long and distinguished histories.
Sather Gate was completed in 1910, shortly before Jane Sather's death in 1911, and was a gift from Jane to immortalize her late husband. The gate and its accompanying bridge were designed by architect John Galen Howard and built by Giovanni "John" Meneghetti in the Classical Revival Beaux-Arts style. The gate is composed primarily of bronze, steel, and granite. Atop the gate are eight panels of bas-relief figures sculpted by Professor Earl Cummings: four nude men on the north side representing the disciplines of law, letters, medicine, and mining, and four nude women on the south side representing agriculture, architecture, art, and electricity. From 1910 to 1977, the panels were removed due to differences with Jane Sather, but by 1979 they were all reinstalled.
Before the university expanded southward, the gate served as the terminus of Telegraph Avenue and the campus's formal southern entrance, with the circle in front serving as the turning point for trolleys coming from Oakland. The university later expanded south of Strawberry Creek, and the gate is now well separated from Berkeley's city streets by Sproul Plaza. Between October 2008 and April 2009, Sather Gate underwent restoration focused on its bronze and steel metalwork, which had deteriorated over time. It remained open to pedestrian and vehicular traffic throughout that time. The gate is a California Historical Landmark (No. 946) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (No. 82004649).
Sather Gate is part of the historic Sproul Plaza, a major center for student activity (you will frequently see tables and demonstrations in the area) and the scene of many protests during the Free Speech Movement. The gate is famous for appearing in one of the most well-known photographs from that era (see below). The gate also serves a prominent position in pop culture. In the film Ant-Man and the Wasp, the protagonists are seen walking through Sather Gate in an establishing shot. Additionally, the Monsters University campus in the 2013 animated film is based largely on the UC Berkeley campus, which sits very close to Pixar's headquarters in Emeryville, California, and the Monsters University gate was directly modeled on Sather Gate.
Sather Gate, as well as the rest of Sproul Plaza, served as a frequent backdrop during the Free Speech Movement of the 1964-65 academic year.
Logging Requirement
Please visit Sather Gate, take a photo with it, and post the photo with your log. Your photo should include yourself, your signature item, or a piece of paper with your caching name on it. The gate should be clearly visible in the photo. Photos from visits prior to the publication of this Virtual are not allowed. You must physically visit the site, and any use of Generative AI or extensive photo editing software is not allowed.
Virtual Rewards 5.0 - 2026-2027
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between February 3, 2026 and February 3, 2027. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 5.0 on the Geocaching Blog.