Cloud Gate (The Bean) in Chicago - Millennium Park

The Cloud Gate in Millennium Park is the work of Indian-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor. The work was selected from 30 projects in 2004 in a competition held prior to the park's opening. It represents a ball of liquid mercury, but its appearance as a large polished bean has earned it the nickname "Bean".

The sculpture is made of 168 stainless steel plates welded together and polished until the joints are no longer visible. Weighing one hundred tons and measuring 65 feet wide by 42 feet high, this giant mirror offers unprecedented distorted reflections on the skyline and on visitors themselves, who never tire of photographing themselves and trying their hand at some of the most inventive and amusing staging.

The Bean forms an arch nearly 4 meters high. Its hidden face, the "omphalos", is a concave chamber that reflects other distortions. A photographer's paradise and one of the obligatory "photo ops" in downtown Chicago.

• 201 E. Randolph St, between Michigan Avenue & Columbus Avenue.