Millennium Park - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 41° 52.992 W 087° 37.339
16T E 448366 N 4636995
Millennium Park can be found on the north end of Grant Park. It features world class art, landscaping, and architecture.
Waymark Code: WM1Y5V
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/01/2007
Views: 106
You could say that Millennium Park is the shiny glitzy baby brother to Grant Park. The two abut each other, but that is where most similarities end.
As with Grant Park, Millennium Park is home to world class art, landscaping and architecture, however Millennium Park was designed in the last decade, whereas Grant Park was designed for the most part about 100 years ago.
Plan to spend about 1 1/2 to 2 hours wandering the grounds to see all the art and buildings. Within the park you'll find the Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue that is home to the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus and gives free concerts over the summer months. Frank Gehry also designed a bridge that crosses a busy street to link the waterfront with the park. The fantastic pedestrian bridge winds around sinuously, forcing the user to slow down and take in the beauty surrounding them.
Nearby is an indoor bicycle parking facility, where people can also rent bikes for the day and register for bike tours. For an annual fee, bikers have access to lockers, showers, bike repair, and other amenities to encourage biking to the Park and to work. This is part of the city's plan to establish a 500-mile bikeway network in the city.
Within the park there are many pieces of sculpture located within the Boeing Galleries, an outdoor sculpture park which rotates its art. For 2007-2008 the gallery is featuring world renowned abstract expressionist sculptor, Mark di Suvero.
Near the galleries you'll hear the noise and see the towering Crown Fountain. This unique fountain features two immensely tall towers of glass block. Alternately, the towers show the videos of the faces of local Chicagoans, staring out at the crowd of tourists below. They almost seem like photographs until you see one blink. Water pours over the top of the towers and at times is even "spit" from the mouths of the videos.
The park's most famous piece of art by far is Cloud Gate by sculptor Anish Kapoor, familiarly known as the Bean. The giant stainless steel piece is highly reflective and reflects the city skyline on one side and Lake Michigan on the other. At any time of the day you'll see people milling around and under the piece.
The beautiful Lurie Garden, considered to be the world's largest rooftop garden is located adjacent to the Pritzker Pavilion. The landscaping is done to mimic prairie wildflowers and when you are within the garden the city almost disappears. A stylized stream runs through the garden and on hot days it is lined with visitors cooling their feet in the stream. Under the garden is a railroad yard and a vast underground parking garage structure.
Everything in the park is free, the art, the garden, and even most of the concerts held in the pavilion. We found it to be a wonderful spot to sit and rest between visits to the museums located in Grant Park. From the park's Website you can see the concert schedule, download an audio walking tour of the park, or see a virtual tour.
There are many photographs in the gallery, so be sure to open it to see all that the park has to offer.
The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]
The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]
Hours of Operation:
daily from 6am - 11pm
Admission Prices:
Free
Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Up to 1 hour
Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle or Public Transportation
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