Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
57th St. and Lake Shore Dr.
&
800/468-6674
outside the Chicago area, 773/
684-1414, or TTY 773/684-3323. www.msichicago.org. Admission to museum only:
$11 adults, $9 seniors, $7 children 3-11, free for children 2 and under. Free admis-
sion Mon-Tues mid-Sept through Nov and Jan-Feb. Combination museum and
OMNIMAX Theater: $17 adults, $15 seniors, $12 children 3-11, free for children
2 and under on an adult's lap. Memorial Day-Labor Day Mon-Sat 9:30am-5:30pm,
Sun 11am-5:30pm; early Sept-late May Mon-Sat 9:30am-4pm, Sun 11am-4pm.
Closed Dec 25. Bus: 6 or Metra Electric train to 57th St. and Lake Park Ave.
Oriental Institute Museum
Near the midpoint of the cam-
pus is the Oriental Institute, which houses one of the world's major
collections of Near Eastern art. It won't take you long to see the high-
lights here, and a few impressive pieces make it worth a stop for
history and art buffs.
Your first stop should be the
Egyptian Gallery
, which show-
cases the finest objects among the museum's 35,000 Egyptian arti-
facts. At the center stands a monumental, 17-foot solid-quartzite
statue of the boy king Tutankhamen; the largest Egyptian sculpture in
the Western Hemisphere, it tips the scales at 6 tons. The Oriental
Institute also houses important collections of artifacts from civiliza-
tions that once flourished in what are now Iran and Iraq. The high-
light of the
Mesopotamian Gallery
is a massive 16-foot-tall
sculpture of a winged bull with a human head, which once stood in
the palace of Assyrian king Sargon II. Artifacts from Persia, ancient
Palestine, Israel, Anatolia, and Nubia fill other galleries. Allow 1 hour.
1155 E. 58th St. (at University Ave.).
&
773/702-9514.
http://oi.uchicago.edu. Free
admission; suggested donation $5 adults, $2 children. Tues-Sat 10am-6pm (Wed
until 8:30pm); Sun noon-6pm. Bus: 6 or Metra Electric train to 57th St. and Lake
Park Ave.
Robie House
Frank Lloyd Wright designed this 20th-
century American architectural masterpiece for Frederick Robie, a
bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. The home, which was com-
pleted in 1909, bears signs of Wright's Prairie School of design (an
open layout and linear geometry of form), as well as exquisite leaded-
and stained-glass doors and windows. It's also among the last of
Wright's Prairie School-style homes: During its construction, he
abandoned both his family and his Oak Park practice to follow other
pursuits, most prominently the realization of his Taliesin home and
studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Docents from Oak Park's Frank
Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation lead tours here, even
though the house is undergoing a massive, 10-year restoration (the
house is open throughout the process, but your photos may include
some scaffolding). A Wright specialty bookshop is in the building's
