The Secret Garden of Salt Lake

Gilgal Garden

This perplexing Mormon sculpture garden is perhaps Salt Lake City's most bizarre landmark. It features a self-portrait of the original sculptor wearing some stylish brick pants, dozens of stepping stones engraved with LDS poems and scriptures, an eerie sphinx with the head of the founding Mormon prophet (Joseph Smith) and many other strange objects.

The project was started in 1945 by Thomas Child, a local mason and LDS (Latter Day Saints, i.e. Mormon) bishop, who died in 1963. It was completed over the years by his family and other sculptors, but for decades it was hidden in the back yard of the sculptor's house. In 2000 it was purchased by the LDS church and the state of Utah, and is now a public park. And it's right across the street from my apartment!

Although completely inert, I see this garden as an embodiment of energy in that it took an incredible amount of time and effort to create, all based on strong religious beliefs. The stone making the canopy over Child's portrait weighs 62 tons alone, and is surrounded by enormous boulders harvested from the canyons around Salt Lake.

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USA-Canada / USA-Utah

Lat: 40° 45' 31" N
Long: 112° 53' 11" W

Elevation: 4400

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Sony Cybershot F717, Raynox FE180Pro lens, Kaidan QuickPan spherical head, Hakuba 504-MX tripod. Composed with Stitcher 4 on a PowerBook G4.