What began as the Tempe Normal School for Teachers—in 1886, a four-room redbrick building and 20-acre cow pasture—is now the 750-acre campus of ASU, the largest university in the Southwest. You'll wind past public art and innovative architecture—including a music building that bears a strong resemblance to a wedding cake (designed by Taliesin students to echo Frank Lloyd Wright's Gammage Auditorium) and a law library shaped like an open book—and end up at the 74,000-seat Sun Devil Stadium (ASU Campus, 5th St. 866/800-2828), home to the school's Sun Devils. One of the most outstanding stadiums in the country, it has a spectacular setting. It's literally carved out of a mountain and cradled between the Tempe buttes. While touring the west end of campus, stop into the Arizona State University Art Museum (Mill Ave. and 10th St. 480/965-2787. asuartmuseum.asu.edu. Free. School year: Tues. 10-9, Wed.-Sat. 10-5; summer, Tues. 10-5, Wed.-Sat. 10-5). It's in the gray-purple stucco Nelson Fine Arts Center, just north of the Gammage Auditorium. For a relatively small museum, it has an extensive collection, including 19th- and 20th-century painting and sculpture by masters such as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Rockwell Kent. Works by faculty and student artists are also on display, and there's a gift shop. In Matthews Hall, the Northlight Gallery (Matthews Hall, Mill Ave. and 10th St. 480/965-6517. Mon.-Thurs. 10:30-4:30) exhibits works by both renowned and emerging photographers. There's no admission charge.
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