Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Chicago housing collections from paleontology, anthropology, geology and zoology. The building extends over multiple floors with exhibition halls displaying dinosaur bones, gemstones, tools from ancient cultures and preserved animals from around the world.

The museum opened in 1894 in a temporary building at Jackson Park to preserve and make public the exhibits from the Chicago World's Fair. In 1921 it moved to its current neoclassical building on the shore of Lake Michigan, funded by a large donation from Marshall Field.

The permanent Egypt exhibition shows reconstructed burial chambers and inscribed walls that reveal how people centuries ago accompanied and said goodbye to their dead. Many visitors spend time looking at the hieroglyphs and imagining what daily life along the Nile looked like.

The museum opens daily in the morning and closes in the late afternoon, with halls usually quieter if you arrive right at opening time or on weekdays. All areas are equipped with elevators and ramps, so everyone can reach the exhibitions.

The central hall houses SUE, a fully preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that is over 12 meters (40 feet) long and lived more than 67 million years ago. Visitors can walk around the skeleton and view the shape of the bones, the size of the teeth and the posture of the body from every angle.

Location: Chicago

Inception: September 16, 1893

Founders: Marshall Field

Architectural style: Greek Revival architecture

Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible

Address: 1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60605-2827

Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 09:00-17:00

Phone: +13129229410

Website: https://fieldmuseum.org

GPS coordinates: 41.86628,-87.61704

Latest update: December 12, 2025 17:36