Museum Campus is a park in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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that sits alongside
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
in
Grant Park and encompasses five of the city's most notable attractions: the
Adler Planetarium,
America's first planetarium; the
Shedd Aquarium; the
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
;
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
, home of the
NFL Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...
football team; and the Lakeside Center of
McCormick Place
McCormick Place is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about south of downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. McCorm ...
. Museum Campus sits adjacent to
Northerly Island along the waterfront.
History
The Museum Campus was created to transform the vicinity of three of the city's most notable museums – the
Adler Planetarium, the
Shedd Aquarium, and the
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
– along with Soldier Field stadium, into a scenic
pedestrian-friendly area. The area is landscaped with greenery and flora as well as jogging paths and walkways. A picturesque promenade along Solidarity Drive, an
isthmus
An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...
, links
Northerly Island to the mainland. The drive itself is lined with a number of grand
bronze monuments commemorating
Kościuszko,
Havliček, and
Nicholas Copernicus, the last of which is a replica of a famous 19th-century work in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
by Danish sculptor
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danish and Icelandic sculptor medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a working-class Dani ...
.
The Museum Campus opened on June 4, 1998, when the northbound lanes of
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive, and called DuSable Lake Shore Drive, The Outer Drive, The Drive, or LSD) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent to ...
were moved west of
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
following the route of the expressway's southbound lanes. By removing the roadway which bisected the area, Museum Campus was created into a green space for the enjoyment of both residents and tourists. In 2014, a consortium of museums in or near the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, formed Museum Campus South. Also in 2014, filmmaker
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...
selected Museum Campus as the location of the
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which would have cost an estimated $700 million, and expanded Museum Campus south along the city's waterfront. However, these plans were cancelled in June 2016 due to opposition from the Friends of the Parks advocacy group.
In August 2016, in a partnership with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Parks District an
Everywhere Wireless Museum Campus joined man
and
Buckingham Fountain
Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the wo ...
in providing free Wi-Fi to visitors.
In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the Museum Campus was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places
by the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...
Illinois component (AIA Illinois).
Campus Museums
See also
*
List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago
References
External links
Museum Campus map— includes a short video
Museum CampusSociety of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on Museum Campus
{{Neighborhoods in Chicago
Parks in Chicago
Chicago, Museum Campus
1998 establishments in Illinois
Neighborhoods in Chicago