City highlights
Du Sable Museum of African-American History
The museum is the oldest of its kind in the United States. It deals with African-American history, art, and culture.
Episcopal Cathedral of St. James
Chicago Cathedral was built in 1834 in neo-Gothic style.
Lincoln Park
On Lake Michigan between Diversey Parkway and North Avenue
In the almost 5 m² park in the middle of the city there are tennis, golf and playgrounds as well as bicycle and roller skating rinks.
Sears Tower
The skyscraper was completed in 1973. With its 108 floors, which towered 442 meters high, it has been the tallest building in the world since the World Trade Center of New York ceased to exist.
Special streets and neighborhoods
The Loop
“The Loop” means downtown Chicago, the center of the city. The district is located within the loop-shaped elevated railway “EL”, which gives it its name. After the great fire of 1871, the reconstruction of the city began here. Today there are huge skyscrapers and the most imposing buildings here. In addition to banks, companies and insurance companies, numerous hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs and theaters have settled in the lively district. The renowned Art Institute is also located here.
The Magnificent Mile
Located on North Michigan Avenue between Oak Street and the Chicago River. The “Magnificent Mile” is actually exactly one mile long. It is one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, in which internationally known luxury boutiques, galleries and restaurants line up. At Christmas time it is lavishly bathed in kitschy lighting.
Special structures
Abbreviated as CHI by Abbreviationfinder, Chicago is the birthplace of modern skyscraper architecture. Since the devastating fire of 1871, which destroyed almost the entire city, the city has taken a pioneering position in this field. Chicago has fewer skyscrapers than New York, but the tallest are here. Some of the most important buildings are briefly presented here.
Aon Center
The skyscraper is the third tallest building in Chicago with a height of 346 meters. After completion in 1972, the entire facade was clad with marble. However, between 1990 and 1992 these were removed due to weather conditions.
200 East Randolph Street
Chicago Board of Trade
The building of the oldest and largest commodity exchange in the world was built in 1930 in the Art Deco style. The interior of the skyscraper is lavishly decorated with marble and gold. A ten-meter-high statue of the Greek goddess of agriculture stands on the roof at a height of 94 meters.
141 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago City Hall (City Hall)
In addition to the city government offices, the city hall building also houses the offices of the mayor’s office. The neoclassical building was inaugurated in 1911. A garden has been decorating the roof of the building since 2001.
121 North LaSalle Street
John Hancock Center
The second tallest building in the city was completed in 1969. With its 100 floors, it rises 344 meters in height. Inside the skyscraper there are mainly apartments, but also offices, a swimming pool, a fitness center and shops. The “Observatory” is located on the 94th floor. From the observation deck, the visitor has an impressive view over the city and Lake Michigan.
875 North Michigan Avenue
www.hancock-observatory.com
Sears Tower
The skyscraper was completed in 1973. With its 108 floors, which towered 442 meters high, it has been the World Trade Center of New York ever sinceno longer exists, the tallest building in the world. When two television antennas were installed on the roof in 1982, the building reached a height of 520 meters. The skyscraper owes its current height of 527 meters to another antenna extension. On the 103rd floor, at a height of 412 meters, there is a viewing platform that allows a breathtaking view of Chicago and Lake Michigan. The express elevator takes just over a minute for the 412 meters.
233 South Wacker Drive
www.thesearstower.com
www.the-skydeck.com
Water Tower
The 47 m high “Chicago Water Tower” was built between 1867 and 1869 according to plans by the Chicago architect William W. Boyington as the city’s drinking water pumping station. The tower presents itself as a medieval castle with turrets and battlements in neo-Gothic style. It is one of the few buildings in the city that survived the devastating fire of 1871. It is therefore one of the oldest buildings in the city – it is also the oldest water tower in the USA after the Water Tower in Louisville. Nowadays the “City Gallery” and a visitor center of the Chicago Office of Tourism are housed in the pump house.
806 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: +1 – 312-742-0808
Museums
Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
www.artic.edu
The art museum has an extensive collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and North American paintings. The exhibits include paintings by Renoir, Monet, Cézanne and Van Gogh. One of the highlights of the museum is Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”. An art academy is attached to the museum, one of the most famous in the USA.
Field Museum
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
www.fieldmuseum.org
The Natural History Museum is divided into four areas. It includes an anthropological, a geological, a biological and a zoological collection. The highlight of the house is “Sue”, the world’s largest and most completely preserved skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Chicago History Museum
Clark Street at North Avenue
www.chicagohistory.org
The museum for the history of Chicago and Illinois was called the Chicago Historical Society until the end of 2005 and has been closed since then. In September 2006 it is to be reopened under the new name.
Du Sable Museum of African-American History
740 East 56th Place
www.dusablemuseum.org
The museum is the oldest of its kind in the United States. It deals with African-American history, art, and culture. In 1961 the museum was founded under the name “Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art”. Since 1968 it has been named after the first settler in the Chicago area, the Haitian Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable.
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (MFACM)
1852 West 19th Street
www.mfacmchicago.org
The museum focuses on Mexican and Latin American artists both outside and inside the United States. Mexican art is understood as “sin fronteras” (without borders), which has developed on both sides of the Mexico – USA border.
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
www.mcachicago.org
The museum designed by Josef Paul Kleihues houses a collection of contemporary art comprising around 6,000 exhibits. These include works by Jasper Johns, Ed Paschke and Andy Warhol.
Museum of Science and Industry
5700 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637
USA
www.msichicago.org/
In this large science and industry museum there is a graphite block that belonged to the first nuclear reactor in the world. The first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction took place in this reactor on December 2, 1942, under the direction of the Italian-born physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954). It lasted 33 minutes and then ended in a controlled manner. The reactor under the name Pile 1 was dismantled again in February 1943 and replaced by the Pile 2 reactor.
National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
1801 South Indiana Avenue
www.nvvam.org Without exception,
the works of art in the collection come from veterans of the Vietnam War, who have processed their individual war experiences in them. They are intended to bring the suffering and bitter reality of war closer to the visitor. The museum is the only one of its kind in the United States .
Oriental Institute Museum
1155 East 58th Street
http://oi.uchicago.edu
The Archaeological Museum is affiliated with the University of Chicago. It deals with the ancient history of the Middle East and includes a large collection of exhibits from Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.
Churches or sacred institutions
Episcopal Cathedral of St. James
65 East Huron Street
www.saintjamescathedral.org
Chicago Cathedral was built in 1834 in neo-Gothic style. It is one of the oldest churches in the city. The interior of the church, decorated with plant motifs, shines in 26 colors.
Isaiah Israel Temple
1100 East Hyde Park Boulevard
www.kamii.org
The Byzantine style Jewish temple is modeled on a temple from Palestine. It was built in 1924 and has been a meeting place for the city’s large Jewish community ever since.
Medinah Temple
600 North Wabash Street
The huge, one-block temple, which was built in 1913 by the religious brotherhood of the Shriners, seats 4,000 people. The facade is decorated with Islamic and arabesque ornaments.
Midwest Buddhist Temple
435 West Menomonee Street
www.midwestbuddhisttemple.org In
1972 the Buddhist temple was built by immigrant Japanese. The culture of Japan is presented to the city here at the “Ginza Festival” that takes place every summer.