Walking through History at the Field Museum

The world-famous Field Museum of Chicago is located on the city’s lakefront Museum Campus and showcases thousands of anthropological and biological artifacts, including the largest, most-complete and best-preserved skeleton of a T-Rex dinosaur, the exhibit known as Sue.

Other notable exhibits include the largest man-eating lion on record, several mummies from ancient Egypt, a carved Maori meeting house, and the hall of gems. Temporary exhibits have explored everything from how we define a person’s ethnicity to the history of diamonds.

For the quickest possible visit, plan on at least 45 minutes to an hour. But this massive and well-curated museum deserves much more time, so figure on at least 2.5 hours to really do it justice (though you could easily spend 4-5 hours here). There is a snack shop on site.

Admission: Basic admission is $15 for adults and $12 for children, with access to additional exhibits available for an extra fee. The Field Museum offers 52 free days per year. The complete schedule of free days can be found online.

Hours: The museum is open everyday (except Christmas)  from 9am to 5pm.

Getting there: The Field Museum is located on the Museum Campus at Lake Shore Drive. The nearest el stop is at Roosevelt and State. The #146 (which goes down Michigan from State and Lake and drops you off right in front of the Field) and #6 buses also service the museum.

Photo by pobrecito33