Citygarden offers a quick escape in the city

www.msnbc.msn.com - updated 3:04 p.m. ET, Mon., July 20, 2009

ST. LOUIS - A new sculpture garden in downtownSt. Louis is trying to give a little something to everyone, offering amixture of highbrow art, quiet spaces for reflection and whimsicalspray fountains where visitors can cool off.

Thepark, called Citygarden, combines two dozen sculptures on three acres(1.2 hectares) of land, from a giant bronze head resting on its side byIgor Mitoraj to animated figures walking across electronic screens byJulian Opie. Citygarden opened July 1.

"Thechallenge and the opportunity was not just to make a sculpture garden,but a place for the public," said Warren Byrd with the architecturaldesign firm Nelson Byrd Woltz of Charlottesville, Virginia.

He designed the park so grand sculptures siton big lawns, while other sections provide little pockets of space toserve as quieter, more intimate areas.

Thesculpture garden is on city-owned land, but it was funded with roughly$30 million from the nonprofit Gateway Foundation, which supportsoutdoor art and urban design. The foundation will retain ownership ofthe sculptures, and is paying upkeep costs except water and electricity.

"It will take its place among the great public spaces here in St. Louis and in this country," said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

Slayused his cell phone at the opening ceremony to dial a control room atthe park, asking workers to turn on the water features and take downconstruction barriers.

"Gentlemen,it's time to start the fountains, and to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, teardown the fences," he said. The park is blocks from the Gateway Arch,Busch Stadium and the convention center, and will be free to visit.

Cell phones will come in handy at the park. Citygarden also has anaudio tour, which people can access by calling 314-802-9571. St. Louisleaders from Hall of Fame Cardinal Ozzie Smith to St. Louis SymphonyMusic Director David Robertson were asked to contribute recordings.Park visitors can punch in a number on their phone that corresponds toeach sculpture to hear more about it.

Byrd said the designers responded to thenatural features of the region, particularly its rivers, whendetermining how to lay out the park.

"The garden looks this way because it's in St. Louis. There's nothing off the shelf about it," he said.

Thepark includes a limestone arc wall, which curves along the northernside of the park and a low, more meandering wall that snakes along thesouth. It has pathways, terraces and plazas. A new cafe is also openingwhere diners will have a view of a waterfall spilling from thelimestone and a pool surrounding Aristide Maillol's reclining nudesculpture "La Riviere."

Raymond Furgason was one of the first visitorsto the park. The downtown resident and owner of a nearby business, theBubba Tea Cafe, strolled through the grounds, coffee in hand, with his2-year-old son Jadyn, who rode along on a tricycle.

"I think it brings a nice sense of style to downtown," he said. "It makes it feel good, homey, real comfortable."