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Guidelines

Thank you for visiting the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University.

There are paths to each of the works, and you can easily spend several hours ranging through our wild prairie landscape. If you visit at dusk and are very quiet, you may see some deer. We ask that you and your students pay heed to the following guidelines.

  • You are allowed to walk off of the paths, however, be advised that there are areas of poison ivy throughout the open lands of the park.

  • Please do not pick our flowers or grasses. We want every visitor to be able to enjoy the same views you have experienced.

  • Do not climb on the sculptures. They are works of art, just as you would find in an indoor art museum and are subject to the same issues of deterioration – except ours have to live through the snow and cold of the Illinois winter and the sun and heat of the Illinois summer! Some of the works have already spent 45 years outdoors. Please be gentle with our art.

  • Teachers are in charge of their students—it is not the docent’s job to be certain your group is together. The park extends over 100 acres and it is easy for groups to straggle. This is unfair to those who are keeping up—please make your students aware that they are to stay together at all times.

  • Informal photography is allowed of both the art and the prairie. Commercial reproduction in any way is strictly prohibited. Please contact the park office if you are interested in printing images of any of our sculpture.

  • You are welcome to bring pets as long as they are leashed at all times and you are willing to clean up after them.

  • There is no swimming, fishing, or ice skating allowed at either of our ponds.

  • GSU Public Safety policy dictates that your bus park in parking lot E. If you or your students choose to return to the park on your own, please be aware that GSU Public Safety insists that all automobiles be parked in designated parking areas. Parking on the road shoulder or driving into the Park is absolutely prohibited.

  • No alcoholic beverages are allowed within the park. Smoking is permitted only in designated areas near the buildings.

Please contact the Park staff if you have questions. Thank you.