Field Columbian Museum

The building known today as the Museum of Science and Industry was built for the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 and originally named The Palace of Fine Arts, as it housed art treasures from around the world. For their safety, the structure was isolated from other buildings and built with permanent materials. It was thus saved from the demolition of the other buildings constructed specifically for the event when the Exposition closed. The building then housed the Field Collection and was known as the Field Columbian Museum until 1920, when a new Field Museum of Natural History was built. The building was left empty and allowed to deteriorate until restoration began in 1929. The Field Columbian Museum reopened in 1934 as the Museum of Science and Industry.