costa rica history and culture
Taking a couple days to tour Chicago is like trying to climb Mt. Everest in an hour. To truly experience all the tasty treats offered in the Windy City, you’ll have to plan for more than a few days. If you plan to live in or near Chicago, all the splendid things to explore will absolutely delight you. Your Illinois realtor can surely hand you the menu to Chicago’s world-recognized attractions, foods, history, and culture.
Attractions worthy of their own articles and definitely worth remembering are the giant Picasso sculpture in the heart of the city and the dazzling art found throughout Chicagoland. We can’t flippantly disregard one of the world’s best orchestra’s, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who, one could argue, is the finest orchestra in the world and is a treasure to experience.
We shouldn’t cast our glance away from some of the world’s greatest architectural achievements, such as the Sears Tower, the John Hancock building, or Buckingham Fountain, just to name an obvious few. Or casually neglect to mention the legends and niches of Chicago style jazz. Ignoring the superior taste of Chicago pizza would be simply disrespectful.
Just mentioning those things and leaving out the other marvelous things found in and around Chicago seems almost criminal, but there’s just not enough page to go around. Chicago’s stellar museums bring millions upon millions of visitors to the Windy City each year, and there’s a good reason for that.
Chicago’s Marvelous Museums
The museums in Chicago are like no others. The sheer size and stunning displays can entertain you for days, and those days could be spent in just in one of the museums. The most famous ones are The Field Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, The Chicago Children’s Museum, the Adler Planetarium, The Art Institute, and the Shedd Aquarium. Here’s a tiny tidbit about the historic few to titillate your palates.
The Field Museum
The Field Museum is a major world player for natural history exhibits, education, and research. Built in 1893 for the purpose of accumulating and disseminating knowledge and the preservation and exhibition of art, archeology, science, and history, it has maintained its educational and research visions, set the standard for other world museums, and continues to draw collections from all over the world. Its visually famous Tyrannosaurus Rex, named Sue T., is the most well-preserved Rex in the world – and she is a sight you’ll never forget.
The Museum of Science and Industry
At the Museum of Science and Industry, you may enjoy yourself so much you’ll never want to leave. One of the largest museums in the world, MSI houses over 35,000 artifacts inside 14 acres of hands-on exhibits. Just walking into MSI will unleash your inner child with a vengeance. Yes, that’s hands-on, like completely interactive. You’ll be able to play with more technological gadgets, industrial experiments; interacting with past, present, and future developments in science, medicine, technology, and engineering. Built in 1933, it was America’s first interactive museum.
The Shedd Aquarium
The Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium are housed within the grounds of the Field Museum. Built in the early 1920’s, the Shedd Aquarium houses tons of fascinating aquatic wonderings. Shedd satisfies your desire to experience the water world, and teaches you about your world. The Aquarium has also maintained its leadership role in the zoo and aquarium profession for more than three-quarters of a century.
The Adler Planetarium
Adler Planetarium is America’s first planetarium. Built in 1930, it has two full-sized planetarium theaters, the world’s first all-digital projection StarRider Theater, and one of the world’s most prominent antique instrument collections. Viewing actual space and spatial simulations at Adler will send you spiraling through the universe like you’ve never imagined.
The Art Institute
The Art Institute of Chicago, formerly named the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, was founded in 1879 making it the oldest of Chicago’s visionary museums so far. The Institute rose from the rubble of the great Chicago fire of 1871. The drive to build it typifies the spirit of the desire for beauty, culture, and education that remains with Chicagoans today. The museum’s collection contains over 5,000 years of artistic history, a gigantic feast for your senses.
The Chicago Children’s Museum
The youngest museum of this group, the Chicago Children’s museum started in 1982. After moving around a bit, it settled onto Navy Pier, which is just plain cool to the kids. Their focus is providing children a place that combines learning with playing. This wonderful addition to interactive and enlightening museum that is totally for kids reminds us of how committed to education, art, music, and culture Chicago is even after nearly 150 years.
Whether you’re a native Chicagoan or Illinoisan, new to the Land of Lincoln, or planning on making a move here; there just aren’t enough words to describe the staggering magnitude and stunning excellence of Chicago’s museums. They are something you just have to savor for yourselves.
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Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer, former Chicagoan, and The Museum of Science and Industry is his most favorite place in the country.
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