When the Bay Area sculptor Michael Heizer saw a 340-ton boulder at a quarry outside Riverside, he phoned Michael Govan, the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Heizer said it was the most beautiful rock he’d ever seen, proposing that it be displayed at the museum. Govan loved the idea.

After five years of planning, the massive rock was hoisted by a specially built trailer, transported at 6 miles an hour into the heart of the city, and perched atop a sepulchral channel that lets visitors walk underneath. “Levitated Mass” opened in 2012 and quickly became one of LACMA’s most popular attractions. Good thing: It’s designed to last 3,500 years. Artsy

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