Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles. With 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in both the U.S. state of Illinois and the American Midwest. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called Chicagoland, is home to 9.5 million people and is the third-largest in the United States. Chicago is the seat of Cook County.

Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, and experienced rapid growth in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, the city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation, with O'Hare International Airport being the second-busiest airport in the world; it also has the largest number of U.S. highways, and railroad freight entering its region. In 2010, Chicago was listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world in the 2012 Global Cities Index. As of 2012, Chicago had the third largest gross metropolitan product in the United States, after the New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, at a sum of US$571 billion.

In 2012, Chicago hosted 46.37 million international and domestic visitors, an overall visitation record. Chicago's culture includes contributions to the visual arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy, and music, particularly jazz, blues, soul, and the creation of house music. The city has many nicknames, which reflect the impressions and opinions about historical and contemporary Chicago. The best-known include the "Windy City" and "Second City." Chicago has professional sports teams in each of the major professional leagues.

Достопримечательности города

• Chicago Loop
• Willis Tower
• Квартал небоскребов

The Loop is the central business district of Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the city's 77 officially designated community areas. The Loop is home to Chicago's commercial core, City Hall, and the seat of Cook County. The community area is bounded on the west and north by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road, although the commercial core has expanded into adjacent community areas. As a business center, the Loop hosts the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Loop is home to Grant Park, the State Street shopping district, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Other major cultural institutions that call this area home include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, the central public Harold Washington Library, and the Chicago Cultural Center.

In what is now the Loop Community Area, on the south bank of the Chicago River, near today's Michigan Avenue Bridge, the U.S. Army erected Fort Dearborn in 1803. It was the first settlement in the area sponsored by the United States.

The Loop contains a wealth of outdoor sculpture, including works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alexander Calder, and Jean Dubuffet. Chicago's cultural heavyweights, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, the Chicago Theatre, the Lyric Opera at the Civic Opera House building, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, are also in this area, as is the historic Palmer House Hilton hotel, found on East Monroe Street.

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Willis Tower (formerly named and still commonly referred to as Sears Tower) is a 108-story, 1,451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. Willis Tower is the second-tallest building in the United States and the eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The skyscraper is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chicago, and over one million people visit its observation deck each year. Named the Sears Tower throughout its history, in 2009 the Willis Group obtained the right to rename the building, as part of their lease on a portion of its offices. On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed Willis Tower.

United Airlines moved its corporate headquarters to Willis Tower from the United Building at 77 West Wacker Drive in August 2012. As of December 2013, United is the Willis Tower's largest tenant, with its headquarters and operations center occupying around 20 floors of the tower.

Willis Tower remains the second tallest building in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere. With a pinnacle height of 1729 feet (527 m), it is the third tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, as it is 86 feet (26 m) shorter than Toronto's CN Tower. Willis Tower is the eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world by pinnacle height.

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Квартал небоскрёбов, где можно увидеть здание, построенное Луисом Салливеном, украшенное тонкой вязью из кованого железа и огромными окнами, а также небоскрёб State of Illinois Building, спроектированный в 1985 году, с вращающимися полами и прозрачными лифтами. Небоскрёб Tribune Tower, построенный в готическом стиле по международному конкурсному проекту в 1920-х годах, в котором размещаются редакции чикагских газет, можно увидеть сразу за Michigan-avenue Bridge, где раскинулся самый богатый район города.

Квартал небоскребов Чикаго предлагает визитерам полюбоваться не только современными строениями, но и историческими зданиями. Высотка Луиса Салливана потрясает большими окнами и фасадом, украшенным коваными узорами. Здесь же расположен небоскреб Tribune Tower, где размещаются редакции известных на весь мир чикагских газет. Здание выполнено в оригинальном готическом стиле. Ну и, конечно, окиньте взглядом диковинное здание State of Illinois Building, где лифты — абсолютно прозрачные, а полы вращаются.

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