Moerenuma Park, Modern sculpture park in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Japan
Moerenuma Park is a sculpture park in Higashi-ku, Sapporo, spreading across 188 hectares with geometric hills, water features, and artistic play equipment woven into a carefully planned landscape. The grounds form a complete work of art with man-made mountains, shallow ponds, and a glass pyramid as the central building.
The park was built on a former waste disposal site and opened in 2005 as the final project of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi before his death. The transformation from landfill to art landscape took over two decades of planning and construction.
The name Moerenuma comes from an Ainu word meaning swamp or wetland, reflecting the former nature of this land before it became a park. Today local residents use the open lawns for picnics and group exercises, especially on weekends when families gather around the shallow pools.
The park opens daily from 7 in the morning until 10 at night, while the glass pyramid is accessible from 9 until 6 in the evening. Wide open spaces allow visits in any weather, though sturdy shoes help when climbing the man-made hills.
In winter the man-made mountains and open spaces transform into snow activity zones where visitors can practice snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. The geometric shapes appear even sharper under a blanket of snow and create an entirely different spatial experience.
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