The Field Museum’s Ancient Egypt exhibit is deservedly a crowd-pleaser; but for hardcore antiquarians, the must-see museum is seven miles due south. The Oriental Institute—established in 1919—displays some five-thousand artifacts (from a collection seventy times that size) spanning ten-thousand years of bygone history, comprising not only Egypt but Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Persia and every other early Middle Eastern mega-state. Highlights include a colossal bull’s head from an entrance hall in ancient Persepolis, a lamassu (a bearded Persian centaur) from the palace of Sargon II and a towering Tutankhamen, everybody’s favorite pharaoh. (Robert Rodi) 1155 E. 58th, oi100.uchicago.edu
Best of Chicago 2019
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