Thai Pavilion at Olbrich

I had the occasion for work to be at Olbrich Gardens recently.  Our group was among a couple dozen people waiting for the doors to open promptly at 10:00 a.m.  The morning was overcast and windy, but warming so a light jacket was good for walking the garden's paths.  

It's early yet so only the early spring flowers were blooming, and still no leaves on the trees, but soon.  When it came in sight, shining through the trees, I steered our group over the bridge to see it.  Somehow, and taking random paths to find ourselves there, we were the first to cross the bridge over Starkweather Creek and approach the Thai Pavilion so, with no people in the way for the moment, I made time to take some pictures.

The pavilion is an impressive sight in person, very detailed and shiny.  The stone has a glare, but reads:  "This extraordinary Thai Sala, the only one of its kind in North America, was gifted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and City of Madison by the Thai Chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 2001."

When I consider it more deeply I see the glaring affluence much more than the practicality, but it's one of only four outside of Thailand so another shiny object for Madison and the university to boast about.  Still, it is pretty spectacular and would look even better in the summer sunlight.  You can learn more about it here.

I was here last year but the pavilion was covered, closed and enclosed for renovations all season.  I thought I posted some pictures from that visit but I can't find that I did.  But you can see the the Bolz Conservatory at Olbrich in this post from 2018.

I'll put a few more pictures after the break, including a picture of the map for the curious.  I'm not sure I ever followed the map there, just wandered through, normally.