Why is The Bean in Chicago's Millennium Park closed?
Note: The video is from a previous report.
Access to the famous Millennium Park Bean in Chicago, formally known as Cloud Gate, is restricted for renovations to the area.
The gleaming bean-shaped sculpture has been a favorite and a must-take selfie opportunity since 2006.
The plaza where The Bean is located is being improved to "enhance the visitor experience and improve the area's accessibility," according to Choose Chicago.
Access and views of the sculpture will be limited through spring 2024.
Millennium Park turning 20
Millennium Park will turn 20 years old in July 2024. Former Mayor Richard Daley wanted an international-class park in the area at Randolph and Michigan, which was an eyesore filled with gravel, train tracks, and parked cars.
The competition for the sculptural centerpiece, now occupied by the Bean, came down to designs by Anish Kapoor and Jeff Koontz.
Koontz's vision involved a 150-foot totem pole bearing the faces of a monkey, a donkey, and a goat with an observation tower and a 90-foot slide.
Kapoor's Bean won.
The Bean By The Numbers
Cloud Gate was created by cutting 68 stainless-steel plates into precise shapes, which were then pieced together and welded shut.
Once fully assembled, the 12-foot-high central arch provided a "gate" under the sculpture, prompting Kapoor to name the piece Cloud Gate formally.
The Bean weighs 110 tons and measures 66 feet long, 33 feet high, and 42 feet wide.
More To See
There is still plenty to experience at the Park, including the Pritzker Pavilion, the outdoor concert venue in Millennium Park designed by Frank Gehry. The Gehry-designed BP Bridge connects the Pavilion to Maggie Daley Park. It is 925 feet long, more than ten times the width of Columbus Drive, the street it spans.
The 2.5-acre Lurie Gardens has two distinct planting areas, a Light Plate and a Dark Plate, separated by a diagonal boardwalk path. There are over 200 species of plants.
Designed by Jaumé Plensa of Barcelona, Spain, the Crown Fountain comprises two rectangular towers of glass brick at either end of a reflecting pool. Behind the glass brick, people's faces are shown, and periodically, a jet of water shoots out of their mouths into the shallow water.