Buckingham by Day

Named in honor of a director of the Art Institute, Clarence Buckingham, and located at the east end of Congress Drive is the magnificent Buckingham Fountain, the focal point of Grant Park. Modeled after the Bassin de Latone Fountain in Versailles, France, Buckingham Fountain is double the Bassin's size. Built from pink Georgia marble, it shoots water up to 135 feet high. Among its fantastical carvings and creatures are four pairs of whimsical sea creatures symbolizing the states bordering Lake Michigan, which the fountain itself is intended to represent.