Art Hill

Art Hill not to be confused with the famous St. Louis Hippie Hill is another beautifully iconic location inside of our beloved Forest Park.
The hill is an extension of the St. Louis Art Museum and sits just between their parking lots. An amazing statue dons the top of the hill and the Grand Basin (water fall) rest at the bottom.
Art Hill serves many purposes to residents and visitors. On any given day you can catch exercise enthusiast running the treacherous hills, boot camps take place here, yoga classes, kite flying, festivals, snow sledding during winter months, walkers making their way around laps of the basin and even paddle boaters on a leisurely row.
You may even catch me doing a handstand (before tumbling over at least lol)
Whatever you choose enjoy it!

The first time I saw Art Hill (last week) I will never forget it. Saw it from the bottom and it was breath taking indeed. Didn’t know that the Art Museum, our current destination was that building up at the top. I suspect the rumors of drunken public summer sex on the hill are savagely exaggerated. ;)

Had a great day at the Museum — drank wine in the café — saw some amazing master’s paintings — bought cool stuff from the museum store and then sat outside and watched a kid flying a kite and people on paddle boats — very beautiful spot!

Art Hill as one of the most beautiful you vistas you can stumble upon in St. Louis.
There is a reason everyone and their mom gets their wedding pictures taken in Forest Park by Art Hill. The fountains give it a classic look and you can see a ton of greenery beyond them.
Besides pictures, it’s the perfect spot for a picnic on the hill or to sit down and read. I pretty much always go on a walk around it after visiting the Art Museum or Zoo. The great thing about Art Hill is it looks good no matter the season!
If you’re in Forest Park you have to visit Art Hill or you’re missing out. It’s worth the trip!

I have loved Art Hill since I was a young adult. One of my favorites is of course the St. Louis Art Museum. I remember the boat rides in Art Hills lake and the lake was such a romantic bomb. God and St. Louis and nature gave us one awesome gift in St.
Louis Art Hill, located in Forest Park!

What a great place in the heart of St. Louis!
When a STL person hears the words «Art Hill», we instantly think of sledding in the winter. However my husband and I recently went to Art Hill to hear the STL Pink Floyd tribute band El Monstero put on their summer show.
It was a warm summer night but being by the lake when the sun went down, there were no words to describe how pretty it was. It was a good location for the concert. Plenty of space to spread out and still get a good view of the stage. Parking was the same as it normally is around the area. They had food trucks to purchase from and drink stations to keep cool with beverages from.
The large crowd took care of the area and it was a very enjoyable night in St. Louis.

This hill is nice. One side is higher than the other side. There is a man on a horse at the top and a pond at the bottom. The grass is soft.

Great view of a great park.
Art Hill has always been the «GO TO» place for winter sledding as a child. Now, as an adult, I’m learning about all of the great things Forest Park is using the space for in other seasons.
Recently, the family went to Art Hill and sampled food truck while watching Field of Dreams during a pleasant evening out. Large crowds are easily managed and the view is one of the best in the city.

This is the hill everyone knows.
The place to go sledding on snow days, see the statue of King Louie, watch the free Symphony concert every September, and its just across the street from the entrance to the St Louis art museum.

Of course Art Hill is the bomb — I grew up in CWE and we slide down this hill as a child for crying out loud, LOL. But last night at the STL 250 Burning Love Fest was cool! So many food vendors to choose from, great music, and LOTS OF MUD!!! The weather was not so bad and I can just imagine how this year’s VP celebration will be like in Forest Park. The lots were well lighted, no ice patches to report (nice weather cleared most of it up) and even in the dark on Art HIll, you can see Kingshighway and the DeBaliviere communication tower which I use to look at from my bedroom as a kid while that annoying red light blinked on and off, LOL. There were plenty of security and police staff on hand, so safety was not an issue. The firework show was awesome! The new renovations at the Museum and around the hill is nice. The only thing was a menance was the zoo smell; you can smell the animals all the way from the Zoo, so folks you need to clean the animals, lol just kidding.
Go visit Art Hill, especially during the STL 250 birthday celebrations occuring throughout the year. You’ll have a blast!

Just won symphony tickets! Fun venue any time of year!

This is one of the places that I love to take people whom aren’t from here and they want to get a feel for what Saint Louis is, and it never disappoints at all! From the lovely vistas to the way the space is used it’s great. I happened to love the Shakespeare festival or sledding down it’s expanse in the winter!

If you want to know how beautiful St. Louis is go here. The view on Art Hill is one of the best in the world. Standing just under The Apotheosis of St. Louis, statue of King Louis IX of France, you have the most amazing view of the city, the park and all that makes St. Louis amazing.
Every Friday in July they host a movie night where guests are entertained by live music, fed by various food trucks and entertained again by a movie projected on a giant inflatable screen… it’s amazing to say the least!
If you know me, you know how much I love food trucks and two other things I love as much are movies and live music. This is my dream location on a warm Friday evening in July. Get here early, bring a lawn chair, cooler, foods, snacks and a Frisbee. The evening I was here, the movie was Roman Holiday. I truly love great, classic black and white movies that make me wish I lived in a time when elegance and class were a way of life.
This is also a great place to exercise. I live just down the road and coming here to «run the hill» can be one of the most exhilarating and killer experiences. There is sledding in the winter and of course the Art Museum is open all year long.
I can’t say enough about how great this place is. It’s what makes St. Louis so amazing and keeps it competitive with all other major cities. Oh yeah, the zoo is a few blocks away, too!

I absolutely loved visiting The Art Hill! I started at the bottom and by the time I got to the top I hated The Art Hill. :P
I got to experience the Shakespeare Festival performing «Twelfth Night» and that in itself was awesome. I highly recommend watching it because its free and if you’ve read any of my other reviews you know «i like me some freebies». Anyways. The sun was setting as I made my treacherous journey to the top of the hill. As i walked and gasped for air, I saw a multitude of people enjoying the hill and the park. Hippies playing in a drum circle, a religious group praying, a girl lying in the grass reading a book, dogs playing frisbee with their owners and those crazy people that run up hills… A whole array of people having fun. There was so much fun to be had there, that I even saw a used condom in the grass. Funny that I didn’t see any litter besides that.
With the art museum at the top and beautiful creek running through at the the bottom, it was a really gorgeous sight to see. I definitely will go back to this section of the park and explore what it has to offer even more. A word to the wise though, at night it did get pretty dark so I would advise people to have company if you find yourself out in the park at night. Another thing I just remembered, the parking was street parking and there was a small lot available as well. But with the festival, the parking was a hassle so I imagine other events or when its busy at the art museum it can get kind of bad. Just wanted to throw that in there too.

Art Hill is simply THE destination for so many occasions. First of all, it is the heart of Forest Park. Located directly in the center it offers gorgeous views as it slopes down from the Art Museum and is anchored by the Grand Basin. Pick any saturday between March and October and I promise you will see multiple wedding parties coming here for pictures. The hill itself is Huge and offers plenty of luscious green grass for all to share. It is the ideal location for a lazy picnic or to let the kids (including the four legged ones) run around and play catch (or fetch). In the summer you will find regular happenings like movies on the hill and orchestra concerts.
One of my favorite lesser known facts about Art Hill is that it really is perfect for sledding and the Park lets you come and even tends to let the 10pm curfew be a little more lax when the sledding is good. They will start bonfires at the top of the hill after snowfalls to keep you warm. Later at night you can even find a bit more of an adult crowd hanging out, remembering what its like to be 12 again. My advice on the sledding is to be patient. If you are the first one out there, it won’t be fun. But if you go late in the day then everyone else will have done the hard work for you (packing down the snow) and your sledding will be much more fun!

More of a B-​cup mound than a hill, Art Hill gives thrill to many a St. Louisan year-​round. Pretentious symphony concerts in the spring, drunken public sex in the summer, playdates and picnics in the fall, and sledding in the winter.
I love Art Hill because it is a shining example of how St. Louisans will get out there and go for it no matter what. Global Warming can’t get us down! We don’t care if there are three snow flurries, by God, 50 of us will be out on that hill sledding our asses off. Public decency laws be damned! St. Louis men WILL pressure their girlfriends for a romp on the hill– it’s the least they can do after an afternoon of romantic paddleboating! And AARP card or not, we WILL roll down this hill as if we are ten years old, if only in our dreams.
Experienced sledding at Art Hill for the first time today. It was everything I’d hoped it would be. And more.

One of many awesome features of Forest Park.
Undoubtedly one of my favorite discoveries in St Louis thus far. With the art museum looking down onto a green lawn bordered at the base of the hill by The Grand Basin. Art Hill is practical for concerts, movie screenings, and also used as a hill-​running spot.

I’ve been on Art Hill many times but most recently, only during summer on Sunday nights. On the «balcony» just in front of the St. Louis Art Museum by the King Louis statue. The fountains are fabulous and beautifully lighted. And you can witness incredlble fire dancing way down below and over by the basin. You can hear the drums and watch the artful fire dancing. Just amazing and mesmerizing! I don’t know who’s doing it. It’s just spectacular.
And we’ve met so many friendly dog-​walkers and their lovely four-​footers! Had some great canine fixes there!
We went once, and there was a movie going on with an incredibly HUGE screen, with lots of people sitting on the lawn with lawn chairs and blankets. That was probably a mistake, because we were yapping and were asked to «leave» or «move».
Nonetheless, from that «tower» overlooking such a beautiful area — busting buttons knowing that Forest Park is bigger than Central Park in NYC — is incredible!

I’m a bit surprised that only 2 people have wrote reviews for Art Hill. Despite it being a «hill» — this one particular place holds some dear memories to my heart that I’ve acquired over the last year I’ve been here in St. Louis.
If you have not been here in years, you should come. If you are coming to St. Louis for the first time, make a point to come here. Bring your family, a friend, a date, or yourself. Enjoy the tranquil serenity of this place.
Fun facts –
— Art Hill once held as many as 100,000 people on it as Charles Lindbergh flew over in his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in 1927.
— Every year, Art Hill will find many sledders of all ages, ethnicity, and cultures mingling together to enjoy the steep snow covered slope. Thank goodness for the hay bails that prevent you from going into the Grand Basin at the bottom!
— At the top of Art Hill you will find the statue of King Louis IX. It has been an iconic figure of the city since the 1904 World’s Fair. Though not the original statue of the fair, it unofficially symbolized the city until the construction of the Arch in 1965. The replica of the original cost about ²⁄₃ less to make the «new one» versus the original as well. The original artist sued the city for using his design and won against the city. Despite this, the replica has been used and has remained since being made of bronze versus the original which was made of plaster.
Trivial knowledge for our beloved St. Louis.

Located in Forest Park between the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Grand Basin is a tranquil spot called Art Hill. This huge multipurpose hill is used year-​round by locals and tourists for a variety of activities. In the wintertime, sledding & tubing down the ultimate snow covered slope is very popular, while in the summertime, it’s all about sunbathing, kite flying, Frisbee tossing, picnicking or just chilling out on a beautiful day. I love to stop by here when biking the park and enjoy lying on the grass just taking it all in.
The hill itself has a long history going back to the days of the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. At the top of the hill, a palace was built to house fine art. It later became the Saint Louis Art Museum. At the base of the hill is the Grand Basin which was the center of activity for the big fair as it was surrounded by temporary palaces which were torn down after the fair. Since then, the hill has been used as an amphitheater and was even used as a golf course for a while. I was surprised to learn that in 1914 the hill was the site of a celebration marking the 150^th anniversary of St. Louis. A theatrical production with a cast of 7,500 was viewed by over 100,000.
5 stars for the history and this being one of my favorite places to stop after a good bike ride around the park on a nice day.