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CHICAGO GALLERY

Chicago

Chicago is a city of natural wonders, architectural masterpieces and enduring parklands. Lake Michigan sits on its eastern border. The city's business district is filled with buildings of several architectural styles, including that of Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and even Gothic Revival. The lakefront is connected by a system of parks, which play host to cultural festivals and events that draw 25 million visitors each year.

Chicago Architecture

The Chicago River runs through the middle of downtown and is lined with iconic examples of the city's architecture. A riverwalk and outdoor seating at restaurants along the river give visitors an opportunity to relax in the shadow of a host of landmarks. Architectural boat tours are popular and provide another way to enjoy the city's beauty.

Neighborhoods amid Chicago's skyline

The John Hancock Center, Chicago's third-tallest building, is one of several skyscrapers that anchor the city's skyline. The neighborhoods that border downtown are vibrant multicultural communities.

Millennium Park

Millennium Park, completed in 2004, is one of the most popular attractions in downtown Chicago. The park includes the spectacular Frank Gehry–designed Pritzker Pavilion, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculpture, Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain and the Lurie Garden, designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel. Since its opening, the park has won more than 30 national awards.

Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate, also known as "the bean," was created by British artist Anish Kapoor and is one of Millennium Park's top attractions. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture has a surface consisting of a seamless series of highly polished stainless-steel plates that reflect the city skyline and passersby.

Crown Fountain, Millennium Park

Millennium Park's Crown Fountain, designed by Jaume Plensa, invites children and adults to drench themselves in water. The two 50-foot towers display the faces of more than 1,000 Chicagoans on LCD screens behind cascading water. The two towers stand at each end of a shallow reflecting pool.

Petrillo Music Shell, Grant Park

The Petrillo Music Shell at Grant Park serves as the main stage for a number of cultural events every year, including the blues, gospel, jazz, and country music festivals and the Taste of Chicago. Here, people enjoy the Chicago Blues Festival.

Chicago Water Tower

The Chicago Water Tower, located on Michigan Avenue, was completed in 1869 and survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In May of 1969, during the year of its centennial anniversary, the Chicago Water Tower was selected by the American Water Works Association to be the first American Water Landmark. It now houses a visitor information center and has become one of the major tourist attractions in Chicago.

Chicago City Flag

The simple design of the City of Chicago's flag pays homage to the city's greatest historical events and physical beauty. The three white stripes of the flag represent, from top to bottom, the North, West and South sides of the city. The top blue stripe represents Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River. The bottom blue stripe represents the South Branch of the Chicago River and the Great Canal. The four stars represent the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Century of Progress Exposition (1933–1934).

Shedd Aquarium and Lakefront

The Shedd Aquarium (pictured bottom left) sits on the edge of Lake Michigan, just south of Chicago’s downtown. Five million gallons of water hold more than 22,000 fish and 1,500 species including marine mammals, birds, snakes, amphibians and insects. More than two million people visit the aquarium each year.

Field Museum

The Field Museum of Natural History is one of three museums located in Chicago’s lakefront Museum Campus (the others are Adler Planetarium and John G. Shedd Aquarium). The architecture of this building typifies the style initiated by the World's Columbian Exposition in the 1890s. Its most famous resident is Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil skeleton currently known.

Soldier Field

Soldier Field, home stadium of the Chicago Bears, sits minutes from the center of Chicago and just west of Lake Michigan. The 61,500-seat stadium was recently rebuilt in 2003. Chicago is a unique city in professional sports; all of its sports teams play within the city limits.

Chicago Marathon

Every year 45,000 runners participate in the Chicago marathon. The 26.2-mile course begins at Grant Park and winds through several of Chicago's famous ethnic neighborhoods. Because of the marathon's flat surface, it has produced several world record performances and regularly draws some of the top runners in the world.

Lake Shore Drive

The concept for Lake Shore Drive was included in Daniel Burnham's "The Plan of Chicago." It runs next to Lake Michigan for nearly 16 miles, stretching from Hollywood Ave on the North Side to 67th Street on the South Side. The photo above shows Lake Shore Drive's approach to Chicago's downtown area from the north; Navy Pier can be seen stretching out to the left of downtown.

Chicago Beaches

Thousands of spectators flock to Oak Street Beach during the annual Chicago Air and Water Show. The city has 32 public beaches that draw millions of visitors each year and host to everything from intramural volleyball leagues and professional sports to the Accenture Triathlon, an Olympic-distance event.

Bike Paths

With more than 115 miles of dedicated biking lanes, Chicago is a biker’s heaven. The newly formed Chicago Department of Transportation Bike Program installed 10,000 bike racks and marked 165 miles of bike routes in 2006 alone. In November 2001 Bicycling magazine honored Chicago as the “Best cycling city in the United States” among cities with more than one million residents.

Sports on the lakefront

Athletes compete in a youth soccer league in lakefront parks on the city's North Side. The Chicago skyline looms in the background.

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)

The second-largest public-transportation system in the United States shuttles 1.6 million passengers across Chicago each day on its buses and trains. The CTA's 1,190 train cars travel over seven routes and 222 miles of track, including the subway and elevated track (pictured above).