The 50 Greatest Chicago Moments: Part 2

Day 2 of 5: Art & architecture

The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was the single most important cultural event in Chicago's history for a variety of reasons, not least because it cemented the city's international reputation as a center of art and architecture.

Organizer Daniel Burnham's team of famous architects made sure that the primary point of entry to the fair was the Court of Honor, a great ensemble of buildings in the Beaux Arts style that moved many visitors to awestruck tears. With its strictly enforced uniformity of style, cornice height and color (all the buildings were painted white), the Court of Honor was a triumph of order and unity. It had a distinctly European feel, but there were also touches of American ingenuity everywhere, from water and sewage systems to the great trusses that held up the massive roofs and the thousands of electric lights that illuminated the fair at night.

Dec. 8, 1893: The official opening of the Art Institute of Chicago, which remains the city's most important art institution to this day.

July 16, 2004: The opening of Millennium Park, Chicago's splashiest arts showplace, featuring Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" (a k a The Bean), Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain and Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion.

May 6, 1968: The topping out of the steel frame of Chicago's greatest building, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's John Hancock Center.

Aug. 15, 1967: The installation in Daley Plaza of the Picasso sculpture, which was widely scorned at first but went on to become the city's most iconic public art.

Spring 1910: The completion of the Robie House, Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest Chicago building and the crowning achievement of his famous Prairie Style.

Feb. 25, 1966: The opening of the first of three "Hairy Who" exhibits at the Hyde Park Art Center, which introduced the irreverent, Pop-influenced artists later known as the Chicago Imagists, who dominated the local art scene for the next 30 years.

Oct. 31, 1967: The reopening of Adler & Sullivan's masterful Auditorium Theatre, which was restored after years of neglect.

Oct. 24, 1967: The opening of "Pictures to Be Read/Poetry to Be Seen," the groundbreaking first exhibit of the Museum of Contemporary Art, held in a renovated former bakery at 237 E. Ontario.

Nov. 16, 2006: The dedication of "Agora," an installation of 106 metal sculptures by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz in Grant Park.