8 680Reviews34Q&A
Reviews
Traveller rating
- 5 464
- 2 272
- 728
- 162
- 55
Traveller type
Time of year
Language
More
Selected filters
- Filter
- English
Popular mentions
+1
Amazing, spacious and HUGE! We did the Chicago GO pass so the additional exhibits were included. Really enjoyed the Native American exhibit. Educational, informative, etc. highly Recommend a visit to the field museum
Read more
Date of experience: October 2020
Helpful
On August 29, 2020 I surprised my husband with a full day of adventure in Chicago. One of our stops was the Field Museum. To be honest, I had not been to the Field museum since I was a teenager and my husband had never been before. Some of exhibits had changed and some had not. I did notice the Egyptian exhibit has downsized some. I also miss Sue being on the main floor to greet me. However, where they moved Sue to is even better. All in all we had fun, and I will not wait so long to visit the museum again. …
Read more
Date of experience: August 2020
Helpful
I’m a geek who loves museums, but this one just seems like it felt short, maybe I had grand expectations that weren’t justified, but given that it is in Chicago I expected something amazing. They did a great job with creating an intriguing and interesting atmosphere, but failed in keeping the attention and the curiosity. Many exhibitions felt like they were rushed. I visited in winter and it was cold, so it was better being indoors, however, if it were summer or nicer weather outside I would totally skip this.…
Read more
Date of experience: November 2019
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Where do we begin? What do we want to see? Do we have time to see it all? Just the enormous size of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is an exhausting proposition. Located at 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, in the Museum Campus, at the south end of Grant Park, overlooking Monroe Harbor and Lake Michigan, it is recognized as one of the three premier museums in the United States, along with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. The massive building, which was opened in 1921, covers 480,000 square feet of exhibit space on three levels and displays 40 million specimens and objects, a full range of existing biodiversity, gems, meteorites, fossils, anthropological collections and cultural artifacts. Its library contains 275,000 books, journals and photo archives on biology, geology, archaeology and ethnology. Are you tired yet? Two million people visit the museum annually. They are mostly attracted to the museum's five permanent exhibitions. Personally, as a historian, I am always fascinated by the Inside Ancient Egypt exhibit, which includes 23 human mummies, an ancient marketplace, a three-story replica of the tomb of the son of the last pharoah of the Fifth Dynasty and 5,000-year-old hieroglyphs. Adults and children alike have been drawn to Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex, since the exhibit was unveiled in 2000. It is the largest T. rex specimen ever discovered. It is 67 million years old and measures 40.5 feet long by 13 feet tall and once weighed 8.4 to 14 tons. Other must-see exhibits are the animal exhibits and dioramas such as Nature Walk, Mammals of Asia and Mammals of Africa; Evolving Planet, which follows the evolution of life on Earth over four billion years; and Ancient Americas, which covers 13,000 years of human ingenuity and achievement in the Western Hemisphere. Founded in 1893, the museum originated from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The more you see, the more you want to see. Allow four or five hours to appreciate it all.…
Read more
Date of experience: September 2020
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
+1
I know how busy the Field Museum can be. When it reopened, I wanted to help support it, especially when they are open at a 25% capacity. If you were ever going to see it and have enough space to take pictures, this is the time. Go early in the day and you won't have to worry about big crowds. Park at Soldier Field and the walk is very easy (there is some construction so the signage is a little confusing but look for the giant Greek Revival building and walk in that direction). Since it is also such a huge facility, that 25% is spaced out so you will see a very small amount of people. They do not have paper maps but they do have electronic maps throughout the Museum so you can very easily take a picture from your phone or scan a QR code. I felt very safe the whole time. As far as the exhibits go, the bird section is really cool. Yes, they are stuffed animals and say what you will about how the specimens were collected, it is fascinating to see them. My daughter is three and didn't question why the animals weren't blinking, breathing, or generally moving. The man-eating Lions of Tsavo are at the end of one of the exhibits and not in the mammal section. Their are arrows on the ground to advise you in a direction to travel (I assume for Covid reasons although maybe they want you to get the full experience of the exhibits) so sticking to them might make it tough to see some displays but really it forces you to go into practically every section. The Africa section is interesting and well laid out, especially in this day and age. I also feel the sections on Native Americans are among the best I have seen at any Museum (save for the Smithsonian's complex). The dinosaurs will be popular with kids, especially Sue who now has her own room. Save some time for that. I had hoped to do the Field and the Shedd on the same day so I had to hurry or miss certain parts, including China, Gems, and Plants. Only for lack of time. I'm sure they are excellent. I wouldn't recommend the Underground Adventure exhibit. It is an extra cost and is basically a few animatronic spiders and signs. I appreciate the effort but we were on a time crunch and just weren't that impressed. Budget a good amount of time to see the Field. There is a lot of reading but even if you aren't reading everything, there are enough three dimensional artifacts to hold anyone's attention. You can buy general admission and have more than enough to see. It is one of the best Museums in Chicago and deserves time.…
Read more
Date of experience: August 2020
2 Helpful votes
Helpful
