The Chicago Cultural Center is an arts showplace for free performances and cultural events presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.  The nation’s first free municipally-run arts center and one of the city’s top ten cultural attractions the Chicago Cultural Center draws over 800,000 visitors annually to its art galleries, theater, performance spaces, Visitor Information Center, gift shop and Café.  The building, a landmark structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places, opened in 1897 as the city’s first Central Library and memorial for Civil War soldiers.  The impressive setting of this neo-classical “palace,” with marble stairways, walls of shimmering mother-of-pearl and sparkling mosaics, and the world’s largest Tiffany dome, hosts over 150 free classical events each year