Location: Downtown / The Loop
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10 Monuments & Statues in Downtown / The Loop That You Shouldn't Miss
The windy city is a cornucopia of modern art, fine dining, cutting edge comedy, and die-hard sports fans. Snap a photo of your reflection in the silver Cloud Gate sculpture at Millennium Park before heading to Grant Park to get hit with the refreshing spray of Buckingham Fountain. There are dozens of museums and theater companies in Chicago, so a cultural experience is never hard to find. You’re sure to laugh your head off at the Second City Theater, the professional launch pad of many famous comedians.
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1. Seated Lincoln
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
2. Picasso Statue
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 696 reviews
Reviewed By Princess279 - East Brunswick, United States
It's Picasso! If you take your time and read the story, you'll surely find something about to be amazed with. Sadly, you still can see the left overs of the vandalism few years ago, but it doesn't diminish the grandiosity of the piece. Check it out from every angle, it's worth it (along with the Miró, Chagall, Calder,... etc. you can experience as a part of the same short self-guiding walking tour). Only in Chicago!
3. Cloud Gate
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 18,019 reviews
Reviewed By alanclarke2017 - Chicago, United States
A visit to the Millennium Park at Christmas is a delight ... That magnificent silver Bean floats over the ice rink and at Christmas there is a fantastic tree all within an easy walk from the mile and central city. Jazz bands and Christmas lights made this very special
4. DuSable Monument
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
When I first became acquainted with Du Sable High School's basketball team in 1954 and later covered Du Sable basketball teams in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s while working for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times, I didn't know who Du Sable was. Along the way, I got educated on the subject. Today, Du Sable is everywhere. For those who don't know, Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable was the Founder of Chicago, the city's first citizen, a fur-trading entrepreneur of African descent who was the first permanent, non-native resident of Chicago. The Du Sable monument, a large bronze bust situated on a granite pedestal, was created by Chicago-born sculptor Erik Blome and erected in 2009 at 401 North Michigan Avenue, or 4 River Esplanade, in Pioneer Court, on the north bank of the Chicago River, in the shadow of the Equitable Building. It is on the site where Du Sable founded his trading post and established his homesite in 1779. Pioneer Court was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Aside from the homesite and monument, Du Sable also is remembered by other city landmarks: Du Sable High School, a harbor, a park, the first African-American history museum in the United States and the Du Sable Bridge, once known as the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which is adjacent to the monument and homesite.
5. Vietnam Veterans Fountain
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 38 reviews
6. Monument with Standing Beast
7. Calder’s Flamingo
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 259 reviews
Reviewed By Keenomanjaro - Croydon, United Kingdom
Very large Alexander Calder sculpture on a bustling plaza in Chicago's financial district. For me, this is the pick of the city's many excellent pieces of public art, trumping even the 'bean'. Easily found if you're heading to or from the Willis Tower, this is well worth stopping off to admire and wish your hometown had stuff like this stood around!
8. Miro's Chicago
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 46 reviews
Reviewed By Princess279 - East Brunswick, United States
I don't know if coming to see just this piece of art would be worth it, but I believe taking a self-guided tour of Chicago to see all the pieces in the area is a great way to experience Chicago. Go see the Picasso, Chagall and Calder’s along withnthe Miro, you'll enjoy them!
9. Millennium Monument
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 66 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
The Millennium Monument is a tribute to the individual, corporate and foundation benefactors of Millennium Park in Chicago. Located at 201 East Randolph Street in Wrigley Square, which is situated in the northwest section of Millennium Park, in the southeast corner of the intersection of East Randolph Street and North Michigan Avenue, the monument is a nearly full-sized replica of the semicircle of paired Roman Doric-style columns (called a peristyle) that originally sat in this area of Grant Park between 1917 and 1953. It was demolished to make way for the Grant Park North Garage. The square also contains a large lawn and a public fountain. The monument, a gift from the William Wrigley Jr. Company, is a limestone replica peristyle that rises to a height of 40 feet. The pedestal is inscribed with the names of the 115 financial donors who made the 91 contributions of at least $1 million each to help pay for Millennium Park. Built in 2002, the monument features 24 paired, fluted columns which are the same height as the original peristyle. Each of the limestone columns is cut from an Indiana quarry and made of five 2,200-pound sections reinforced by steel rods and plates. In 2017, the monument underwent a restoration to include enhanced LED color-changing lighting.
10. Heald Square Monument
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 16 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
The Heald Square Monument became the first sculpture designated as a Chicago Landmark by the Chicago City Council on September 15, 1971. So why are so few people aware of it? Located at the intersection of East Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue, across the Chicago River from the Trump Tower, the 11-foot-tall bronze sculpture by Lorado Taft depicts General George Washington and the two principal financiers of the American Revolution, Robert Morris and Haym Salomon. Following Taft's death in 1936, the sculpture was completed by his associates, Leonard Crunelle, Nellie Walker and Mary Webster. Heald Square was named for Captain Nathan Heald, commander of Fort Dearborn from 1810-1812. An interesting footnote to the sculpture is the little known bronze plaque on the back side of the granite base, showing a seated Statue of Liberty. In this depiction, Lady Liberty is stretching out her arms to welcome all persons of whatever race and belief. In all honesty, I wasn't even aware of the significance of the sculpture until I was informed recently by a friend who serves as a tour guide for historic sites in Chicago. Several years ago, for a 50th anniversary story, I directed a Chicago Sun-Times photographer to take a picture of members of Mount Carmel High School's 1950 football team with the sculpture as a backdrop. Little did I know at the time. The sculpture was the idea of Barnet Hodes, a Chicago attorney, who led an attempt to curb the rise of Anti-Semitism in Chicago when he created the Patriotic Foundation of Chicago in 1936. Of Polish Jewish heritage, Hodes had read about the financial contributions that Jewish patriot Haym Salomon had made to the American Revolution and planned to honor him. But he felt that a commemorative statue of Salomon standing alone would not deliver the message of inter-cultural cooperation as effectively as a sculpture with non-Jewish patriots like George Washington and Robert Morris. The sculpture was dedicated on December 15, 1941, on the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and eight days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
