What if you could touch the Great Pyramid, the Roman Colosseum, and the Berlin Wall—all without leaving Michigan Avenue?
At the base of the Tribune Tower lies an open-air museum—featuring fragments of global landmarks located at the edge of the building.
This Michigan Avenue Landmark is embedded with 150 pieces of world history
The story of these artifacts begins in the 1920s, during the construction of the new headquarters for the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper’s owner, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, envisioned his building as more than just an office; he wanted it to be a symbol of global reach.
He gave his foreign correspondents a unique assignment: to bring back historically significant rocks from renowned sites they visited around the world. This directive turned journalists into collectors, each tasked with acquiring pieces from ancient temples, battlefields, and iconic structures.
Today, nearly 150 artifacts adorn the lower levels of the tower.
Visitors can touch a piece of the Parthenon from Athens, see a stone from Westminster Abbey in London, and find fragments from The Alamo in Texas.
The collection also features a stone from Abraham Lincoln’s original tomb, a brick from the Great Wall of China, and even a rock from Antarctica. Each piece is labeled, making a walk around the building an interactive history lesson.
Tribune Tower is located at 435 N Michigan Ave.