Your Chicago: Osaka Garden
CHICAGO (CBS) – Tucked behind the Museum of Science and Industry is a passport to another place and time.
It is the Osaka Garden, a gift from Japan in 1893 during the World Columbian Exposition.
It's also Lisa Maurizi's favorite place in Chicago, a spot she researched after reading Erik Larsen's bestseller "Devil in the White City."
"I just wanted to see it because I am a Chicagoan," Maurizi tells CBS 2's Kate Sullivan. "While I was here, there was just a flood of peace and tranquility that came upon men, and I was not expecting that."
It won't take you long to find the Osaka Garden, but once you do you'll realize the paradise that it really is. The Chicago Park District has been maintaining it since the 1930s.
Historian Bob Carr says it's a unique place.
"This space is considered one of the most historically significant sites in the United States, representing both the past and future of U.S.-Japan relations," he says.
A bridge from one culture to another, it remains all these years later a place of meditation and reflection. It is considered a traditional Japanese "stroll garden," which means the paths are supposed to take you in a meandering pattern to see every part of the garden.
"It's a soul. It's the soul of this garden," Maurizi says of the tranquil atmosphere.
Entrance is free. To learn more about the Osaka Garden, click here.
