Looking for Millenium Park Chicago?
What
is now Millennium Park was
first conceived in 1998 with the
mission of creating new parkland in Grant Park to transform the
unsightly railroad tracks and parking lots that had long dotted the
lakefront. Over time, with Mayor Richard M. Daley's vision and Frank
Gehry's involvement, the project evolved into the most ambitious public
undertaking in Chicago's history.
Today,
with its unprecedented combination of architecture,
monumental sculpture and landscape design, the 24.5 acre Millennium
Park has become a crowning achievement for Chicago in the tradition
of its original founders.Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Avenue to the west, Columbus Drive to the east, Randolph Street to the North and Monroe Street to the South.
The park is open daily
from
6am - 11pm and Admission is always free.
Among Millennium Park Chicago's prominent features are the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States; the interactive Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa; the contemporary Lurie Garden designed by the team of Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel; and Anish Kapoor's hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture on the AT&T Plaza.
Cloud Gate is British artist
Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work
installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is
forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates,
which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.
Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the At&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T.
