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Garden of the Phoenix, Chicago, IL

Photo: Michael Christensen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Garden of the Phoenix

A Japanese stroll garden on the Wooded Island in Chicago's Jackson Park, created as a gift between the United States and Japan.

Chicago, IL

About Garden of the Phoenix

The Garden of the Phoenix sits on the Wooded Island in Jackson Park. Japan gave the site a pavilion modeled on a famous temple hall in Uji, and the building was dedicated in 1893 during the World's Columbian Exposition. The pavilion burned in 1946, and the site lapsed for decades. A Japanese-style stroll garden opened in 1935, was rebuilt in 1981, and has been refined since. Today the grounds feature ponds, a waterfall, a moon bridge, and Yoko Ono's SKYLANDING lotus sculpture, which marks the former pavilion's footprint. The Garden of the Phoenix Foundation supports the site alongside the Chicago Park District.

  • #Japanese garden
  • #Chicago
  • #Jackson Park
  • #Wooded Island
  • #U.S.-Japan relations

What's around here?

The closest stops to Garden of the Phoenix, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

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    Barack Obama Presidential Center

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    Tour four floors of exhibits on the Obama family, including an Oval Office replica, then walk the free campus in Jackson Park.

    Steps awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Museums
    Family Favorite

    Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

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    Descend into a coal mine, board a captured WWII U-boat, and geek out in the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    0.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Jackson Park

    Check prices

    Stroll the lagoons and Japanese garden on Wooded Island, swim at two Lake Michigan beaches and find relics of the 1893 World's Fair.

    0.5 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    History Buff

    Midway Plaisance

    Check prices

    Walk the mile-long park where the 1893 World's Fair put the first Ferris wheel, then see Lorado Taft's Fountain of Time at the west end.

    0.6 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Frederick C. Robie House

    Under $25

    Tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style house in Hyde Park, with its cantilevered roofs and art glass.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    0.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors
    History Buff

    Washington Park

    Check prices

    Stroll an Olmsted and Vaux park on Chicago's South Side to see Lorado Taft's Fountain of Time and visit the DuSable Museum.

    1.7 mi awayMore like this

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