Millennium Park

The park is built over an active railyard and parking structure, which is why it counts as one of the largest rooftop gardens anywhere. It opened in 2004, four years late and roughly three times over budget. Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate - universally called the Bean - is a mirrored steel form of about a hundred tonnes whose seamless surface took years of grinding and polishing; Kapoor disliked the nickname. Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain has two fifteen-metre glass towers showing video faces of a thousand Chicago residents, which periodically purse their lips and release a jet of water. Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion has a trellis of steel pipes carrying speakers over the lawn so the sound works outdoors.

What you'll find

• Cloud Gate - about a hundred tonnes of mirrored steel, seamlessly polished.
• Crown Fountain - faces of a thousand residents, spouting water.
• Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion - a pipe trellis carrying sound over the lawn.
• A park on a railyard roof - among the largest rooftop gardens anywhere.

When to go

April to October; summer concerts are free on the lawn. Half a day.

Good to know

Cloud Gate is crowded from morning to night and has been closed for periods of maintenance. Winter closes the fountain. Free concerts fill the lawn early. It is small - the surrounding parks add more.

Nearby

The Art Institute is adjacent; Maggie Daley Park is east over the bridge.

Key facts