The permanent collection at this small storefront museum focuses on the lives of the Swedes who originally settled Chicago. Check out the items people deemed important enough to bring with them on their journey to America: butter churns, traditional bedroom furniture, religious relics and more. The children’s section lets kids climb around on a steamship and milk fake cows.
Swedish American Museum Center
Chicago
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
2.08 MILES
Built in 1914, Wrigley Field – aka the Friendly Confines – is the second-oldest baseball park in the major leagues. It’s home to the Chicago Cubs and…
13.58 MILES
The MSI is the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere and a place to completely geek out. Highlights include a WWII German U-boat nestled in an…
7.09 MILES
The second-largest art museum in the country, the Art Institute houses a treasure trove from around the globe. The collection of impressionist and…
6.94 MILES
There's free admission to Millennium Park, the playful heart of the city. It shines with whimsical public art, both permanent and temporary exhibits, and…
6.97 MILES
Willis Tower is Chicago's tallest building (and one of the world's loftiest). Breathe deeply during the ear-popping, 70-second elevator ride to the 103rd…
Field Museum of Natural History
8.06 MILES
The Field Museum houses some 30 million artifacts and includes everything but the kitchen sink – beetles, mummies, gemstones, Bushman the stuffed ape –…
6.6 MILES
Half-mile-long Navy Pier is one of Chicago's most-visited attractions, sporting a 196ft Ferris wheel and other carnival rides ($9 to $18 each), an IMAX…
National Museum of Mexican Art
8.32 MILES
Founded in 1982, this vibrant museum – the largest Latinx arts institution in the US – has become one of the city’s best. The vivid permanent collection…
Nearby Chicago attractions
0.42 MILES
Back before the talkies made silent film obsolete, Chicago reigned supreme as the number-one producer of movie magic in the USA. Essanay churned out…
0.54 MILES
Many residents of this area, also known as ‘Little Saigon,’ arrived as refugees from the Vietnam War and subsequently filled the storefronts with lunch…
0.59 MILES
The entrance gate to Chicago’s largest cemetery is worth the trip alone. Designed by WW Boyington (the architect who created the Water Tower on Michigan…
1.51 MILES
Who knew? Ben Franklin liked to be flogged, and Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut had a foot fetish. The museum reveals this and more in its displays of leather,…
1.51 MILES
Homes here were built in the early 1900s and represent some of the best examples of Prairie School architecture in Chicago. Many residences – including…
1.52 MILES
The final resting place for some of the biggest names in Chicago history, including architects Louis Sullivan and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and retail…
1.81 MILES
Chicago’s first designated historic district is worthy of the honor. Developer Samuel Eberly Gross re-created a block of London row houses on Alta Vista…
2.04 MILES
It's impossible to get any closer to Wrigley Field without actually crossing the stadium's threshold, making this newly developed plaza (formerly a…