Adler Planetarium

The Adler Planetarium was the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere when it opened in 1930, and its location on the tip of a peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan gives it the best skyline view in Chicago — a fact that the architects clearly knew, because the building is positioned so that the city rises directly behind you as you enter. The view from Adler's terrace at sunset, with the skyline backlit and the lake stretching east to the horizon, is one of those Chicago moments that justifies a detour.

The planetarium itself has two immersive theater experiences — the Grainger Sky Theater and the Definiti Theater — projecting shows about the universe onto domed ceilings with resolution that makes you genuinely feel like you're drifting through space. The historical instrument collection, often overlooked by visitors heading straight to the shows, contains astrolabes, sundials, and celestial globes dating back centuries, including instruments that navigators actually used to cross oceans.

Max Adler, a Sears Roebuck executive, founded the planetarium after a visit to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where he saw a Zeiss projector and decided Chicago needed one. The original Zeiss instrument — retired but preserved — sits in the building as a reminder that this institution exists because a businessman saw something amazing in Germany and thought, 'Chicago should have that.' It's a very Chicago origin story.