The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows

The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at the Navy Pier in Chicago is a permanent display of 150 stained glass windows housed in an 800-ft.-long series of galleries along the lower level terraces of Festival Hall. Open since February 2000, it is the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to stained glass windows. It showcases both secular and religious windows and is divided by artistic theme into four categories: Victorian, Prairie, Modern and Contemporary. All of the windows were designed by prominent local, national and European studios and most were originally installed in Chicago area residential, commercial and religious buildings.  The windows provide unique insight into Chicago's cultural, ethnic and artistic history. The time period they represent, 1870 to the present, was an era of intense urban revision that featured the development, decline and
revitalization of neighborhoods, the development of commercial and cultural institutions, the evolution of artistic styles and the response of various
ethnic groups to these changes.   The Richard H. Driehaus Gallery of Stained Glass is also featured within the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows. This extraordinary collection features 13 windows that highlight the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany and his workshop from 1890-1930.