Grant Park, Chicago

Grant Park, Chicago

Sprawling over 319 acres in the heart of Chicago's central business district, Grant Park is a treat for the senses.

Sprawling over 319 acres in the heart of Chicago's central business district, Grant Park is a treat for the senses. Called as 'Chicago's Front Yard', the lush Beaux Arts style area has several gardens with fountains and art work, performance venues, museums, sporting venues, and harbor facilities. It is bordered on the north by Randolph Street, on the south by Roosevelt Road and McFetridge Drive, on the west by Michigan Avenue and on the east by Lake Michigan.

The Buckingham Fountain takes center-stage in the park as one of the world's largest fountains. The rococo-style tiered wedding cake fountain has light and water displays daily.

The Millennium Park in the northwest corner was originally laid out as a millennial park, and features the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, AT&T Plaza with Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Lurie Garden and various other attractions such as the McCormick Tribune Ice Skating Rink, the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Wrigley Square, Exelon Pavilions, Boeing Galleries, Chase Promenade, and the Nichols Bridgeway.

The Maggie Daley Park in the northeast corner has several facilities such as a field house, a quarter-mile ice-skating ribbon, rock-climbing walls, tennis courts, picnic groves, and children's playground with 6 different play areas - The Wave Lawn, The Harbor, The Watering Hole, The Slide Crater, The Enchanted Forest, and The Sea.

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the best art museums in the United States, with an impressive collection of Impressionist and American art.

The Museum Campus occupies 57 acres at the southeast end of the park, and has the Adler Planetarium, Field Museum of Natural History, and Shedd Aquarium. The narrow isthmus along Solidarity Drive which connects the Adler Planetarium on Northerly Island in the lake to the Campus mainland features neoclassical sculptures of Kościuszko, Havliček and Nicolaus Copernicus.

Artworks and monuments are scattered throughout the park. The Congress Plaza at the main west entrance features 2 large bronze equestrian statues by Ivan Meštrović depicting warriors - The Bowman and The Spearman, that are arranges as gatekeepers to the park. The nearby Court of Presidents has the 'Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State' statue by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens set in a 150-foot wide exedra by Stanford White. The Agora in the southwest side is an installation of over hundred 9 foot tall headless, armless sculptures by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz. The Columbus Monument honors Christopher Columbus, and the Logan Monument honors Civil War era Major General John Logan.

The park hosts several music events such as the Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza at the Petrillo Music Shell.