City Museum

St. Louis City Museum


Useful Information

Location:
Open: MAR to AUG Mon-Thu 9-18, Fri-Sat 9-23, Sun 11-18.
SEP to FEB Thu 9-17, Fri-Sat 9-23, Sun 11-17.
[2020]
Fee: Per Person USD 16.
Groups (15+): Per Person USD 11, only with reservation.
[2020]
Classification: SubterraneaCave Replica
Light: LightIncandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: City Museum, 750 North 16th Street, St. Louis, MO. 63103, Tel: 314-231-2489, Fax: 314-231-1009.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1993 Bob and Gail Cassilly acquired a former warehouse.
25-OCT-1997 Grand Opening of the museum with only the first and second floor completed.

Geology


Description

The City Museum in downtown St. Louis is more os less a huge artwork. Artists Bob and Gail Cassilly acquired a 10-story former shoe company warehouse and tranformed it into a phantastic sculpture. The Cassilly crew - a cadre of sculptors, welders, and painters - worked for several years in secret until they finally opened the first part of the museum in 1997. The visitors were obviously curious because of the secrecy. But the combination of art, climbing and slides, and hands on experiences soon became very popular. Since the opening numerous other parts of the museum were completed. But still it is a work in progress, and it seems nobody actually knows what it does and why.

While it is neither underground nor actually cave related, we listed this museum because of the Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shafts. In 1999 Bob Cassilly and the crew completed the first shafts of a system of caverns in the core of the warehouse. In 2002 they were expanded into a multi-level labyrinth with a slide. In 2005 a 1925 Wurlitzer organ from the Rivoli Theater in New York was reassembled in the caves. The caves are not cave replicas but more or less the artist ideas of caves. And while there are crawls and passages to explore, there is no actual resemblance of any real cave. The whole installation is worthy the most unique and eccentric museum in the world.