A Visionary Art Environment
In a state full of magnificent strangeness, Gilgal Garden is a likely contender for crown jewel. It is a local treasure that we Salt Laker's grew up hearing about or discovering at random. Myself in the early 90's, sneaking in over the fence one night with my x-wife's older brother from the above parking lot which was sandwiched between a Wonder Bread factory and a Chuck-A-Rama buffet. The garden and sculptures, built by a crazed religious stonemason were overgrown and badly in need of repair. It wasn't until a Canadian company tried to buy the property for a condo development that the local arts community, the city fought to preserve it. The Mormon church even threw in a chunk of change. It's now a beautifully manicured Utah state park, full of magnificent strangeness.
From Wikipedia: The Gilgal Sculpture Garden is a small public city park, located at 749 East 500 South in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The park, which is filled with unusual symbolic statuary associated with Mormonism, notably to the Sphinx with Joseph Smith's head, was a labor of love designed and created by LDS businessman Thomas Battersby Child, Jr. (1888-1963) in his spare time. The park contains 12 original sculptures and over 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems and literary texts. Gilgal Sculpture Garden is the only designated "visionary art environment" in the state of Utah.
To learn more and to become a 'Friend of Gilgal Garden', visit the official website at www.gilgalgarden.org.