Chihuly glass @ Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus

The 1893 Chicago's World Fair inspired the city of Columbus to create a horticulture building modeled after the Exposition's Glass Palace; this glass structure, built in grand Victorian style, was erected in Franklin Park and opened to the public in 1895

To this day, Franklin Park Conservatory is the only public botanical garden in the world to own a signature collection of Chihuly's magnificent glass artworks, which represents 3,000+ pieces of glass

Visitors walk under Persian Ceiling which has two locations in the Himalayan section; the greenhouse species were well-labeled but there are virtually no species outdoors

Originally built in 1895, the Franklin Park Conservatory is on the National Register of Historic Places; it is surprisingly small and not nearly as impressive as others I've visited

The Franklin Park Conservatory would have been a poor use of $19.95 were it not for their permanent display of Chihuly glass art; when Chihuly pieces were first shown here in 2003, attendance increased 182%

I had not seen Chihuly glass prints before but thought they were a complement to the exhibition; Eddie Rickenbacker, WW1 fighter pilot, was born and raised here

Torchier; Chihuly pieces are spread throughout the conservatory, both indoors and in its courtyards, placed to interplay with the surrounding plants, shrubs and trees

In the fall of 2013, the conservatory hosted an exhibition by internationally recognized British artist Bruce Munro; Light at Franklin Park Conservatory featured 10 large-scale light installations and gallery works

In 1976, while Chihuly was in England, he was involved in a head-on car accident during which he was propelled through the windshield; he was blinded in his left eye as a result

Chihuly began experimenting with glassblowing in 1965, and in 1966 he received a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin; in 1968 he received a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship

As of 2018, Columbus has the headquarters of four corporations in the U.S. Fortune 500: American Electric Power, L Brands, Nationwide, and Big Lots

No reliable history exists as to why Columbus (after Christopher Columbus, who had no connection to the city or state of Ohio before the city's founding), was chosen as the name for the city

The conservatory has featured Chihuly Nights where all of the installations are breathtakingly lit; to this day, the conservatory has the largest Chihuly collection in a botanical garden

The Silvered Plum and Cobalt Polyvitro Float Chandelier, actually made of a kind of plastic rather than glass, hangs in the entrance to the conservatory; I hadn't seen a Chihuly piece like this before

Examples of Chihuly pieces were on display in one of the conservatory galleries; the Friends of the Conservatory bought the entire 2003 Chihuly exhibition for $7+ million after seeing how much attendance increased

Sunset Chandelier; famous people from Columbus include Jack Nicklaus, Simone Biles, Archie Griffin, Jesse Owens and Dave Thomas (the first Wendy's was in Columbus)

The conservatory had its best year ever in 2018, attracting a record 353,399 visitors, up 57 percent from the year before; Chihuly has been a marketing genius resulting in a very profitable business empire