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Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a botanical garden and outdoor sculpture park located in Grand Rapids Township, Michigan in Kent County. Commonly referred to as Meijer Gardens, it has quickly become one of the most significant sculpture experiences in the Midwest and an emerging worldwide cultural destination. In April 2005, ''The Wall Street Journal'' wrote that "There's nothing quite like Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park this side of the Kroller-Muller Museum and Sculpture Park in The Netherlands". In May 2009, it was named one of the top "30 Must-See Museums" in the world.〔(Meijer Gardens Named a Must-See Museum by Author of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" )〕 It is Michigan's second-largest tourist attraction and is a feature venue in ArtPrize, the largest art competition decided by public vote. In ArtPrize 2012, it debuted "Quan," an outdoor sculpture by Carole Feuerman, as part of its fall group show "Body Double: The Figure in Contemporary Sculpture."〔http://therapidian.org/human-body-all-its-beauty-and-strangeness-frederik-meijer-gardens〕 Feuerman's sculpture ranked in the top 50 of the competition, drawing in crowds to the sculpture park.〔http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2012/10/25_pictures_from_artprize_2012_12.html〕 ==History== Meijer Gardens opened to the public on April 20, 1995 through the generosity of Frederik and Lena Meijer, the family behind the Meijer Corporation, who donated financial support, land and their entire sculpture collection to the organization. In 1990, the West Michigan Horticultural Society approached Frederik Meijer about donating a parcel of land owned by Meijer, Inc, as a potential home for a botanic garden and conservatory. Meijer, Inc donated of land in Grand Rapids Township, Michigan for the Gardens site in January 1991. At the same time, Fred and Lena Meijer donated their entire sculpture collection to the project. The Michigan Botanic Garden, as the project was called, was renamed Frederik Meijer Gardens after its major benefactor. The distinctive signature of the park and gardens, which emphasizes the equally important entities of sculpture and horticulture, satisfies Meijer's goal to unite the visual art of humankind and the visual art of nature. It is currently the second most-popular cultural destination in Michigan with 600,000 visitors annually, and is funded almost entirely by private donations. Meijer Gardens includes Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory; three indoor theme gardens; a new 8-acre Japanese Garden scheduled to open in 2015, outdoor gardens, nature trails and boardwalk; sculpture galleries and permanent sculpture; library; audiovisual theater; a café and gift shop; classrooms and meeting rooms. Both indoors and outdoors, the entire property is fully handicap accessible. In its first ten years of operation, Meijer Gardens has attracted more than three million visitors. Meijer Gardens celebrated its 15th anniversary on April 20, 2010. On May 7, 2010, the Gardens welcomed its six millionth visitor.〔(detnews.com )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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