Downtown St. Louis keeps a garden where the art is larger than life and the fountains are for everyone. Citygarden, opened in 2009 across two downtown blocks, transformed the Gateway Mall into an urban oasis: 24 major sculptures — by Fernando Botero, Tom Otterness, Jean-Michel Folon and others — set among native plantings, reflecting pools and a beloved spray plaza.
The garden is gloriously un-museum-like: no fences, no admission, no ‘do not touch’ — just monumental art woven into lawns and water, with the Arch framed at one end and downtown’s towers around it. It became an instant civic living room and a model for American urban parks.
Best experienced barefoot in the spray plaza in summer, or bundled up among the sculptures under winter lights.
Citygarden spans Market and Chestnut Streets between 8th and 10th Streets downtown. Details at citygardenstl.org.
