Back in October of 2025 I found myself in Chicago for a work conference. When I wasn’t in workshops or out socializing with industry colleagues I spent my time exploring as much of the city as possible. Since I love museums, my first stop was to the Field Museum. My primary interest in visiting this world-class museum was to see two of their most famous exhibits – the Tsavo Lions and Sue the T-Rex. However, to my surprise, I found so many more fascinating exhibits! I was prepared to be impressed, but I was blown away! I’ve been to several amazing natural history museums around the country but this one beats them all.
A Brief History
The Field Museum isn’t just a place to explore natural history, it’s also a part of history. The museum was originally created as a place to display a collection of rare artifacts that was assembled for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Over the next two decades the museum collections grew and in 1921 the museum moved from it’s location in Jackson Park to it’s current location. Today the museum has over 40 million objects in it’s collection…and sadly just a fraction are ever on display at any given time. I’d love to have the opportunity to see what’s never on display – how cool would that be?
Saying Hi to Maximo
Anywho, as you can guess, I was pretty excited to visit the museum. After purchasing tickets my first stop was to see an extremely large dinosaur on display – Maximo the Titanosaur!
Maximo is a cast of a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur modeled from fossil bones excavated in Argentina. Walking around and under Maximo was really cool – and showed just how big a Titanosaur would have been in real life!
Don’t forget to head up to the upper floor to get a better view of his head! He’s rather cute.
Ancient Americas
After saying hello to Maximo the first exhibit I visited was the Ancient America’s hall. Wow – I spent so much time in here! This impressive exhibit covers 13,000 years of history with over 2,000 artifacts to look at. It shares the history of “Ancient America” – not only the Aztec, Mayan and Inca empires but the hundreds of diverse societies that lived and thrived before European settlers arrived. I was really impressed not only with the wealth of information contained in the galleries, but the way all of the artifacts were displayed. The exhibits were not displayed in chronological order, but rather grouped together around common themes all of the societies shared. I honestly lost track of time in here. Here are some of my favorite things I saw here.
For some reason I just really like Clovis points. And the teeth and horns of a mastodon hunted by the Clovis peoples was also pretty cool to see.
The displays of jewelry and other ornamental pieces was also amazing.
Another gallery that I enjoyed looking through was all of the pottery. One of my favorite things is figurines of animals. This little mouse eating corn was so cute!
Seeing all of these artifacts also put into perspective the impact European explorers had on these native cultures. Tens of millions of Indigenous people lived in the Americas when the first European explorers landed on its shores. But within just a few hundred years, it is estimated that disease, slavery, and warfare had killed three out of every four of those Indigenous people—destroying many of their cultures in the process. Do yourself a favor and allow yourself a couple of hours for just this gallery alone – it’s that good.
Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples
At the end of Ancient Americas you immediately walk into an exhibit dedicated to Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest. This is a culture I don’t know a lot about, so it was interesting to walk through and learn about them and seeing all of the artifacts, especially the clothing. It is always amazing to me how they lived and survived in such extreme conditions but yet took time to make such beautiful clothing. Some of the items, especially the boots, reminded me of boots that my husbands mom has from the time she lived in Greenland. I thought that was really interesting.
But the real surprise in this gallery (at least for me) was the totem poles! Oh my goodness, I was so overwhelmed that I had to walk around them a couple of times before I even took a photo of them. They were massive! Pictures don’t really do them justice.
Hall of Birds
After I was done looking at the totem poles, I headed over to the Hall of Birds. I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time in here but it was cool to see! My favorites from this hall were the shoebill stork and the birds of paradise.
Tsavo Lions
By this point I was running out of time and still had two other exhibits I really wanted to see, so I skipped all of the animal and mammal exhibits in the Rice Hall to get to the Tsavo Lions. The story of the man-eating Tsavo Lions has always fascinated me.
If you’ve read the famous 1907 book, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, or seen the 1996 movie starring Val Kilmer called The Ghost and the Darkness, then you’re familiar with the story of the Tsavo lions. If you don’t know their story, I’ll give you a brief synopsis. For over nine months in 1898 these two siblings terrorized workers building a railroad bridge in the the Tsavo area of what is now known as Kenya. It is thought that they killed and ate about 28 of the railroad workers, but no one knows for sure how many people these lions killed over their lifetime. The head engineer, Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, eventually killed the lions. He sent their skulls and hides to his home in England and they were turned into rugs. In 1925 he sold the rugs to the Field Museum, who then turned them back into taxidermied lions.
A fascinating story for sure!
Sue the T-Rex
No matter where I am, dinosaurs are always a big hit with me! So after visiting the Tsavo lions I ran over to see one of the Field Museum’s most famous residents – Sue the T-Rex!
What makes Sue so special is that she is the worlds biggest, most complete and best-preserved adult Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that’s ever been found (about 905), with 250 out of approximately 380 bones! Standing at 13 feet tall at the hip and stretching 40 feet long, Sue is a sight to behold! I walked around her and actually forgot to take pictures, it was just so fascinating taking in every little detail!
Fun fact! The head on her skeleton isn’t her real head. Since scientists are frequently studying her skull, it is much easier for them to remove it from a display case rather than from her whole skeleton.
Sue is awesome! Make sure you go see her if you are ever in Chicago.
Inside Ancient Egypt
My last stop of the day before I had to head back to work was the Ancient Egypt exhibit. This is a really cool exhibit that make you feel like you are exploring an Egyptian pyramid. The downside to this exhibit is it is on two floors with a narrow steep stairway connecting them, so those with small children or mobility issues will have difficulty navigating it. However, that’s also the cool thing about it because it makes you feel like you are descending into an actual pyramid. There are 23 human mummies and many mummified animals on display here. Two authentic chamber rooms from the burial site of pharaoh Unis-Ankh are on display, complete with hieroglyphics. It was super cool to see, but photography was difficult due to the low-lighting and cramped spaces.
Final Thoughts
I cannot recommend the Field Museum enough. My biggest regret is that I didn’t have enough time to see everything. The floor map of the museum is deceiving…it gives you the idea that you can see the entire museum in one visit. I’m here to tell you that’s impossible. I was here for just over 4 hours and probably only saw one quarter of the museum.
Even though the Field Museum is located near the Shedd Aquarium and Planetarium, there is so much to see here that I suggest taking your time exploring all of the exhibits and not trying to cram all three in one visit. However, make sure to find time before or after the museum to take a stroll along the lakefront for great views of the city and Lake Michigan!
Have you been to the Field Museum? What was your favorite exhibit?
Looking for more things to do in Chicago?
Are you in Chicago for a trip and not sure what else to do? Consider checking out one of these other fun ways to explore the city!
