Photos: Greek Out At The Field Museum With 5000+ Years Of Artifacts

By Marielle Shaw in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 30, 2015 8:40PM

Greek culture has been a part of the tapestry of influences on Chicago since 1840, when many Greeks arrived.

Many were sea captains arriving from Louisiana via the Mississippi, and some became restaurant and business owners, giving others the chance to explore Greek culture through their food, nightlife and museums in Greektown and beyond.

Now Greek culture is being celebrated in an even bigger way in Chicago. The Field Museum has just debuted The Greeks, an expansive exhibit featuring over 500 priceless artifacts representing over 5000 years of history. The Greeks is a collaboration with the National Hellenic Museum, which will run a concurrent and complimentary exhibition to the Field's. It's also a collaboration with the National Geographic Museum, Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, Canadian Museum of History and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs.

It's groundbreaking for many reasons, not the least of which is the help from over 21 Greek institutions to acquire and display artifacts which have never been seen outside of Greece. An expansive but simple exhibition space boasts incredible pottery, brass, and gold work. Room upon room details the history of Greece through the ages, including tomb excavations and everyday objects, as well as some of our favorite pieces, the amazing marble busts featuring Greece's poets and scholars.

The exhibit is packed with fantastic objects, and having walked through it twice, we found there were things we missed on our first pass. People with even a passing interest in Greek mythology or the life of the Ancient Greeks will find more than enough to ignite their curiosity here, and though it's not as interactive or as modernized as some of the Field's other recent exhibits, it's a blockbuster. Visitors are literally invited to walk through the creation of a great civilization which has influenced our lives today profoundly, and see its most priceless treasures.

If you'd like to have a look, the exhibit will be on display at the Field Museum of Natural History until April of 2016, before traveling to the National Geographic in D.C. Tickets are available online and at the doors.