The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, 24
(312) 443-3600
Located 51.51 miles from Jellystone Park Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago Museum

In the 1990s, the Art Institute constructed a new suite of galleries to house its Asian collection. Here, famed architect Tadao Ando designed his first American space, a gallery for Japanese screens. In 1993, a totally reconstructed Kraft Education Center opened to serve students, teachers, and families. Restoration of the Art Institute's earliest educational spaces became a priority: the Ryerson Library reopened in 199x with restored interiors and new underground stacks, and work on Fullerton Auditorium began in 1999. As the century closed, a new exterior ramp and interior elevator were under construction to provide universal access to the Art Institute.


The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879 as both a museum and school, first stood on the southwest corner of State and Monroe Streets. It opened on its present site at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street in 1893. Built on rubble from the 1871 Chicago fire, the museum housed a collection of plaster casts and had a visionary purpose: to acquire and exhibit art of all kinds and to conduct programs of education. The collection now encompasses more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world, and the school's graduate program is continually ranked as one of the best in the country.