Field Museum

About Field Museum

The Field Museum sits on Chicago's Museum Campus along Lake Shore Drive, at the southern edge of Grant Park with Lake Michigan just behind it. It's one of the largest natural history museums in the United States, and its collection runs from dinosaur fossils and ancient Egyptian artifacts to gems, meteorites, and cultural objects from around the world. The building itself is worth a look before you even get inside: a white marble neoclassical structure that opened at this site in 1921, built around a soaring central hall.

The headline draw is Maximo, a cast of a Titanosaur that stretches 122 feet long and stands 28 feet tall, the largest dinosaur ever found and big enough that its neck reaches up toward the second floor. The Grainger Hall of Gems pairs antique jewelry with precious stones shown in their rough, uncut state, so you can see what a gemstone looks like before it's cut and polished. Elsewhere you'll find an Egyptian tomb reconstruction, taxidermy dioramas, and rotating exhibitions that sometimes carry a separate ticket on top of general admission.

The museum is large, so it's easy to spend half a day here without covering everything. If your time is limited, pick a few halls rather than trying to see it all. It pairs naturally with the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium, both a short walk away on the same Museum Campus, and public transport and lakefront paths connect the area to downtown Chicago. General admission covers the permanent collection, while some special exhibitions and add-ons are ticketed separately.