CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beginning March 1, the Art Institute of Chicago will join the popular Chicago CityPASS program. Saving travelers 49 percent off the Windy City’s top attractions, each 2011 Chicago CityPASS also includes pre-paid admission to Shedd Aquarium (VIP express entry), The Field Museum (VIP express entry), Skydeck Chicago (Fast Pass entry), Adler Planetarium (may be visited in place of the Art Institute of Chicago; VIP entry), and either the John Hancock Observatory (Fast Pass entry) or the Museum of Science and Industry (VIP entry).
Founded in 1879 as both a museum and a school, the museum of the Art Institute of Chicago is located in Chicago’s Grant Park. Ranked as the second largest art museum in the country, AIC particularly renowned for its collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat and Gustave Caillebotte.
The museum’s Modern Wing, a 264,000-square-foot (24,526 square meters) addition that opened in May 2009, houses new galleries for the museum’s celebrated collection of modern European paintings and sculpture, contemporary art, photography, and architecture and design. A complimentary audio tour, provided with CityPASS admission, helps visitors expertly navigate the exhibits. The institute’s recent expansion also incorporates a number of new visitor amenities: an interior garden, an open-air sculpture terrace, a pedestrian bridge to Millennium Park, a mezzanine café, and the Terzo Piano fine-dining restaurant, featuring Italian cuisine “with a modern (of course) perspective.”
A Chicago CityPASS costs $76 for adults (a value of $152.60) and $59 for kids, ages 3-11 (a value of $126). In addition to the nearly half-off savings, CityPASS travelers save time, skipping the main-entrance ticket lines at most attractions.
Purchase Chicago CityPASS online at CityPASS.com or at any Chicago CityPASS attraction. The passes are valid for nine consecutive days, beginning with the first day of use. CityPASS is also available for New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Hollywood, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Toronto. For more information on CityPASS and its partner cities and attractions, visit CityPASS.com.