Last weekend, I got in the holiday spirit by visiting the Museum of Science and Industry’s annual Christmas Around the World exhibit. There are more than 50 trees, decorated by volunteers from the various ethnic communities in Chicago. Holiday music provided a jolly background, while “snow” fell every half hour.

It’s amazing how one tree can make you really feel the culture of another country. Each is a work of art in itself.

In addition to the beautifully decorated trees, there are many events throughout the holiday season. On Sunday we enjoyed Whispers Center for Artistic Expression (Poland) and Chicago Donauschwaben Kindergruppe (Germany). Many other countries are represented in future cultural performances in the auditorium. They also offer photos with Santa and a holiday ornament-making exhibit on several other days.

The building housing the Museum has a rich history, too. Dating back to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the Palace of Fine Arts had a plaster façade over a brick structure. After the World Fair, it became home to the Columbian Museum (the Museum of Natural History), until that moved in 1920.

The next plan was for a sculpture museum, but eventually that changed to a science museum. The exterior was replaced with limestone. The opening took part in three stages from 1933 to 1940.

Currently the museum holds more than 2,000 exhibits, both permanent and temporary. The permanent coal mine features equipment dating back to 1933. One of just two German submarines captured during World War II, the German submarine U-505, is the only such vessel in the Western Hemisphere.

I love the Museum of Science and Industry. It combines science, art and history under one magnificent roof.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist