Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of the Art Institute of Chicago.
On this page
Academy, museum and Modern Wing
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1879
The Academy
The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts is founded.
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1882
A new name
It becomes the Art Institute of Chicago.
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31 October 1893
Michigan Avenue
The institute moves into the building made for the World’s Columbian Exposition.
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10 May 1894
The lions
Edward Kemeys’s bronze lions are unveiled at the entrance.
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1972
A lost landmark
Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange is demolished; parts of its Trading Room are later rebuilt in the museum.
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16 May 2009
The Modern Wing
Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing opens, with the Nichols Bridgeway to Millennium Park.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
