SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

The Essentials

Who: Tours are geared to 4th grade school groups, however requests from other groups can be accommodated upon request and pending availability.

What: Tours cover aspects of Ohlone heritage, Mission Period, and California history from pre-European contact to the 1850s, with a heavy emphasis on Native California and the Mission Period.

When: Tours take place from 10-11:30 a.m. most weekday mornings during the academic year. Tours are not offered during summer.

Where: The tour begins and ends at the de Saisset Museum at SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

Cost: Our tours are offered free of charge, however a donation of $2 per person is encouraged.

The Details

California Stories Exhibition

The museum's California Stories from Thámien to SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ exhibition features historical objects from Native California, Mission SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, local Ranchos, and the early days of SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ College. Tour-goers learn about life in California through well-preserved objects including Native baskets and hunting implements; religious items and everyday objects from Mission SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½; farm tools and portrait paintings from the California Ranchos; and scientific instruments and archival images from SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ College.

Mission SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ de Asís

Always a highlight of the tour, a visit to historic Mission SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is like stepping back in time. The sixth mission on the fifth site, the current structure harkens back to the 1825 mission. This section of the tour focuses on the architecture of the building and its importance within the California mission system. Tour groups are treated to a discussion of the Mission's history and an explanation of why SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ was rebuilt six times since 1777.

Mission Gardens

Each of the California missions was established with a particular framework in mind—a church, a quadrangle, a source for water, and outlying buildings and farm lands. Mission SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ was no different. A tour of the gardens allows participants to see and imagine the Mission as it would have been. Highlights of this section include touching the Adobe Wall and seeing the oldest building on campus, built in 1822.