Gilgal Gardens
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: (801) 972-7800
- Hours:
- Daily 9am-dusk
Editorial Review for Gilgal Gardens – by Jason Esplin
Overview
This local treasure is well worth the pain many people have gone through to preserve it. Gilgal Gardens mixes Utah cultural heritage with quotations from Emerson, Rousseau and the Bible into a tableau of statues depicting a variety of subjects. For example, the famous Joseph Smith Sphinx or the 20-foot soldier with a sword in one hand and a boulder for a head.
The Experience
There's not much out there in terms of biographical information, but there is a dazzling self-portrait of artist Thomas Childs in the garden itself. Childs is holding blueprints and scriptures and wearing an uncomfortable-looking pair of brick pants.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoThe garden was created in 1945 and was not completed until 1963. Recently, Salt Lake purchased the garden and made it a city park.
User Reviews for Gilgal Gardens
07/01/2007 Posted by spunkysunshine
These gardens are secluded, quiet and SO weird. The principles illustrated must have been very important to its creator and the time taken must have been a lifetime. I just don't like it because it makes the Mormon religion look like it is from another planet. As a Mormon, I found some statues disrespectful & confusing. I don't know what the sculptor was thinking.
10/12/2002 Posted by Adrianne01
I have quite a few school friends from out of state and each one that I have taken to Gilgal has been really impressed and felt like they were being let in on some kind of cool secret. There are quite a few people from the state of Utah that have never seen it either, so if you want to impress people take them to Gilgal.
Pros: Free, Never crowded, Interesting & Strange
Cons: Garden needs pruning
