REVISED(1/3)-The largest Titanic exhibit ever housed
Written: Oct 03 '00 (Updated Jan 03 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of interactive exhibits and things to see
Cons: Some people may get tired of the science museum stuff
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| maceyr's Full Review: Chicago Museum of Science and Industry |
If there is only one museum that you can afford or have the time to go to, the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry is it. It is probably one of the largest science museum in a single building of 350,000 square feet of exhibit space. Be prepared to spend almost the entire day there (guaranteed if you are taking kids along). They have over 800 exhibits on display and over 2000 interactive units to entertain and enlighten the curiosity in you.
I would highly recommend the Museum of Science & Industry as a stop. Like most science museums where they have many hands on exhibits on learning, they also have a few things that many science museums didn't have. Currently (until Oct. 9th), they have the Titanic exhibit on display. For anyone who is remotely interested in the story of the Titanic, I would strongly recommend it. I previously missed the Titanic exhibit over two years ago when it was shown at the Tampa Museum. The exhibit closed the day I arrived in Tampa. So, when I found out about this exhibit in Chicago, I made sure that I didn't miss this opportunity. And I was definitely not disappointed.
Apparently, the exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry has the largest collection of Titanic artifacts in the world. There have been more than a dozen new artifacts recovered on the most recent expedition to the ocean floor in August this year. Many artifacts that were previously shown still submerged in water are now displayed in cases. Artifacts such as a decaying leather bag, shirt collars, jewelery, china, bowler's hat, door knob, postcards, letters, perfume bottles, toilet boil, door plates, ship bell, etc can be found. The exhibit is self-guided but they also provide an audio tour via a radio-like receiver for additional price.
The tour begins every 15 minutes. They provide you with a nearly authentic looking "boarding pass" with the name of passenger that you represent. Near the end of the exhibit, you could search out if you were one of the survivors or the casualty. Uh. Okay. You walk through the various exhibits that may be encased in glass displays, on sand, or a good sized replica model of the ship itself or pass by re-creations of first and third class compartments, the Grand Staircase, the turbines. I was struck by the beauty of the Grand Staircase and felt like I was inside the Titanic for a moment. The third class compartments look just like what was in the Titanic movie. The first class obviously displayed the grandeur of room, with running hot water, a major luxury in those days.
The largest piece of artifact from the Titanic was a part of the ship itself. Weighing 13 tons (broken off a 20 ton piece of side of the Titanic with the 7 ton piece displayed in other exhibitions elsewhere in the US) with rivets, it was astonishing to be able to see and feel a piece of the ship. Originally submerged in water in previous exhibits, they had sprayed and encased it in wax and now has it displayed on a bed of sand. Overall, it was a great exhibit but once I realized that what I was seeing was pieces of personal belongings of the passengers, I was saddened by that discovery as I was when I first watched the movie. Personally, I would hate to have my personal belongings or my family's personal belongings displayed in a museum for all to see.
The Gift shop provided many souvenirs with the one most interesting and almost least expensive being a small piece of the "actual" coal that was used in the Titanic. Hmmm. I'm not so sure about that. Even if it was the real coal, a piece of coal is a piece of coal, except when the box has the Titanic logo on it, I guess. It seemed silly for me to buy such a useless souvenir and since the shirts were a tad bit expensive for me and I didn't feel like spending money on replica chinas or on posters or other souvenirs that didn't appeal to me, I decided on a simple postcard to mark my visit. And, of course, I still had the boarding pass.
The Museum currently has many other exhibits such as Michael Jordan's Exhibiting Greatness exhibit, Michael Jordan's to the Max Omnimax show, Solarmax (an Omnimax show about the sun), Titanica (an Omnimax show about the voyage to the Titanic), All Aboard the Silver Streak (an exhibit on the Pioneer Zephyr on its historic run from Denver to Chicago May 26, 1934), the U-505 Submarine (a German WWII submarine captured in battle), the Coal Mine (a journey down to a coal mine), Flight 727: San Francisco to Chicago (an exhibit of the 727 airplane), Walkthrough Heart (a giant heart exhibit you can walk through) and discover how to lead a healthy lifestyle, Model Railroad among others. Permanent exhibits include AIDS: The war within (hands on exhibit on Aids); Petroleum Planet (exhibit on petroleum and the household products that come from it); Chick hatchery (exhibit with live chicks hatching); Yesterday's Main Street; etc.
The Museum's general admission price is $7. The Titanic exhibition costs an additional $10. Other attractions and exhibits, Omnimax, etc are also additional. For the general admission price, I found that it was a good value for the amount of exhibits that I could see. Please reserve or expect to spend a number of hours to truly experience and go through all the exhibits.
Thanks for taking the time to read and rate my review.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
maceyr
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Location: Canada
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