Release Date: April 12, 2006

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Receives Prestigious Award for Landscape Excellence

Washington, DC—The Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) awarded the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden the 2005 Green Star Award. Given in recognition of grounds maintained with a high degree of excellence, the award also salutes the grounds superintendent responsible for maintaining a well-manicured landscape year- round. The awards were presented during the PGMS School of Professional Grounds Management Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, November 2 through 5, 2005.

Located in the 6.1-acre block adjacent to the West Building, the elegant yet informal garden includes new plantings native to America, from canopy and flowering trees to shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A grand fountain with eight water jets, which serves as an ice-skating rink in winter, lies at the Garden’s center, and walking and seating areas offer visitors a chance to rest and reflect. The Pavilion Café offers year-round café service, along with indoor and outdoor seating. The Sculpture Garden is enclosed by a decorative metal fence with marble piers and plinths, designed to reflect the historic character of the West Building. There are six public entryways to the Sculpture Garden, which is accessible to visitors with disabilities.

Designed to offer year-round enjoyment to the public in one of the preeminent locations on the National Mall, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden includes seventeen 20th-century monumental sculptures. Information about each sculpture and its artist is available at http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculptureinfo.shtm.

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is made possible by a 1991 agreement signed by the National Park Service and the National Gallery of Art and approved by the National Capital Planning Commission to transfer jurisdiction of the Sculpture Garden site from the Park Service to the National Gallery. The Sculpture Garden opened to the public on May 23, 1999. It is open seven days a week free of charge and closed on December 25 and January 1. More than 160,000 people visit the Sculpture Garden annually.

Sculpture Garden Hours
Monday–Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Pavilion Café Hours
Monday–Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

SUMMER HOURS (effective May 26–September 15, 2006)
Sculpture Garden
Monday–Thursday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
Friday, 10:00 a.m.–9:30 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–7:00 a.m.
Pavilion Café
Monday–Thursday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Friday, 10:00 a.m.–8:30 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

The Sculpture Garden is on the National Mall at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, and is bounded by Constitution Avenue and Madison Drive, and 7th and 9th Streets NW. It was given to the nation by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For more information about the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, visit http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculptureinfo.shtm; to view plantings, click on http://www.nga.gov/feature/sculpturegarden/plantings/summer/index.shtm. For additional information on PGMS, visit http://www.pgms.org. To read the article Caring for the Nation’s Sculpture Garden, click on www.landscapeonline.com and type in “Sculpture Garden” in the “search” block.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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