Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A museum in the park.
An introduction to the Art Institute’s buildings and their place between Michigan Avenue, Grant Park and Millennium Park.
On this page
Michigan Avenue and Grant Park
The Art Institute stands in Grant Park, with its 1893 front on Michigan Avenue facing the city and its Modern Wing looking north to Millennium Park.
A guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how the museum sits between the street wall of Michigan Avenue and the open lakefront parks.
Old building, new wing
The Beaux-Arts building of 1893 and Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing of 2009 are joined inside, and the Nichols Bridgeway carries visitors from the wing’s roof to Millennium Park.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was designed, built and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who carved a lion or the conditions in which they worked.
An Art Institute chapter
The museum shows one way to understand Chicago: a city that made room for art in the middle of its parks.
Look for the fragments of lost buildings too, such as the Chicago Stock Exchange arch at the east entrance.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the museum’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the museum.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
