Trip: 81
Landmarks Visited: 1
Landmarks To-Date: 212
Landmarks Remaing: 141
Shawn and I drove his new Jeep to Toledo for Thanksgiving weekend. On the way back we swung through Jackson Park to see the Statue of the Republic. We arrvied right at dusk, so it was difficult to get good photos.
The statue is an approximately 1/3 scale replica of a statue from the 1893 world's fair. The original scuplture was destroyed, and this copy was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fair and the centennial of the state of Illinois. The same sculptor, Daniel Chester French, created both versions of the statue.
The statue is impressive, and I don't think there is anything else quite like it in Chicago. I do think that it desverves a better location. It is located on the grounds of the 1893 fair, but it's in the center of an intersection on a relative small plot of ground. Relative to the statue plot, the streets are wide so there is no easy access for pedestrians. The streets are not busy enough for a large number of people to see it by car. And the trees of the park block any views from a distance.
Still it is one of my favorite landmarks to-date. I plan to go back and see it on a sunny day to really get the full effect of the statue's gilded surface. It really makes you wish that the original statue had been preserved.
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