The world's largest natural history museum
The Field Museum of Natural History was founded in 1893, located south of the city center in Chicago Park, is one of the largest museums in the world. Home to many valuable artifacts, the museum attracts the attention of archaeologists, history and science enthusiasts as well as tourists when coming to Chicago.
The museum's exhibits are of high quality and diverse, ranging from the oldest fossils to modern culture from around the world, as well as many educational and hands-on science programs. Currently, the museum has 30 exhibition areas with 17 permanent exhibition rooms, many temporary exhibitions and 3D film screenings on science and natural history.
The Field Museum of Natural History has more than 30 exhibition areas with an area of 27,000 m2.
The museum's most valuable exhibit is the Tyranosaurus Rex skeleton. The fossil is 42 feet long, 13 feet tall, and is more than 65 million years old.
Among the permanent exhibitions at the Field Museum, the highlights are Inside Ancient Egypt - where visitors can learn about the collection of mummies in the Midwest, ancient tombs or mausoleums; Griffin Halls Of Evolving Planet & Sue The T.rex highlighting the evolution of life four billion years on Earth; Underground Adventure brings an underground adventure to learn about the life of creatures; The Tsavo Lion exhibition tells the story of the man-eating Tsavo lions; or Grainger Hall of Gems is where diamonds and rare gemstones from around the world are displayed.
The Underground Adventure Gallery offers an underground adventure.
A simulation of the mummification process in the Inside Ancient Egypt gallery.
Visitors learn about the mummification process and burial rituals of ancient Egypt.
Gallery of artifacts about the evolution of life on Earth.
Explore the world of animals in a maze of dioramas at the Animal Biology gallery.
Exhibition about Jane Goodall, world-renowned chimpanzee researcher.
The world's largest dinosaur exhibit that ever existed.
In addition to admiring the museum's unique collections, visitors can also learn about scientific experiments. Here, visitors have the opportunity to see firsthand how scientists prepare fossils or extract DNA in the McDonald's fossil preparation lab.
Visitors witness the process of scientists isolating animal DNA.
Highlight: Grainger Hall Of Gems
One of the museum's most popular exhibits since opening in 1921, the Grainger Hall of Gems is even older than the Field Museum itself.
At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Tiffany & Co.'s gem collection attracted a large crowd. When the exhibition ended, World's Fair President Harlow Higinbotham purchased the entire collection and donated it to Chicago's newly established natural history museum.
The collection currently includes over 600 gemstones and 150 pieces of ancient and contemporary jewelry.
Today, the Grainger Hall of Gems is more magnificent than ever. The collection now includes over 600 gemstones and 150 pieces of ancient and contemporary jewelry. Some of these pieces were donated by a Vietnamese woman named Thuy Ngo Nguyen.
Highlights include the Tiffany & Co. jewelry collection; a 3,400-year-old garnet necklace from ancient Egypt; Chinese jade ornaments dating back some 600 years; and the world's largest 97.45-carat ruby topaz.
Blaze - the world's largest 97.45-carat Tozat ruby necklace.
The gems and jewelry on display here show the transformation of gems in three stages: from rough crystal, cut and polished stone, until the gem is finished and mounted in a ring, hairpin or necklace.
The sparkling necklace features 13 rubies, weighing 90 carats.
Red coral is considered a gemstone and has been used in jewelry for thousands of years.
The necklace contains 18 American emeralds and 200 stunning diamonds.
Vietnamese woman donates precious jewelry to museum
Among the jewelry and gemstones displayed here, it is thought that only local millionaires would donate rare collections to the museum, but few people know that there is a Vietnamese woman behind the donation to this most prestigious museum in the world.
It is known that the Vietnamese woman named Thuy Ngo Nguyen, she and her husband and nephew came to the US to start a business in 1975. After 30 years of working and doing business in the real estate industry, Ms. Thuy has built a great career and has four successful children.
Chalmer's Topaz donated to the museum by Ms. Thuy Ngo Nguyen.
Ms. Thuy Ngo Nguyen donated many precious jewelry collections to the Field Museum, including diamonds, gems, marbles, and pearls. Among the precious gems, there is a Topaz weighing 5,899.5 carats (nearly 1.2 kg). This gem is named Chalmer's Topaz (Chalmer is the name of an American who founded the Field Museum). Her collections are currently on display in the Grainger Hall of Gems.
Below are some pictures of the jewelry collection that Ms. Thuy Ngo Nguyen donated to the Field Museum:
In addition, in this gallery there is also a plaque honoring another Nguyen family who has made large donations to the museum:“The Field Museum is most grateful to the Nguyen Family for their generous contribution to the Museum's gem collection”.
