The City of Chicago has possibly the most beautiful skyline in the world. Although it as not as massive as those of Manhattan and Hong Kong is has unsurpassed proportions and elegance.
When you look at the skylines of cities around the world it is clear that each has its own distinct style that reflect the community and industry. For example in New Your City there is Manhattan Island, certainly possessing one of the greatest scylines in the world. When you study it you become aware of how the geography very much affected the shape and contour of Manhattan's Skyline. You have to areas of focus with Manhattan Island which are the downtown (the central business district) and midtown (on Central Park with the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The Chicago skyline is interesting in that it is not on an island and yet at its core (the loop) it is as dense as that of Manhattan Island or any other great city. This is a unique feature to Chicago because there is not the confinement of space that the restrictive borders of an island make. Downtown Chicago is able to spread itself out in all directions with no barriers whatever (of course not taking into account Lake Michigan). Two elements that give the loop its density are the Chicago River and the "El" train that circles around the downtown and so called "loop" (although the origins of the term loop stem from the way in which the Chicago River loops around the central Business district. This became a natural barrier or district in which the city planned and built the downtown. However, the river is thin and no real barrier like that of Manhattan Island for every street on the grid of Chicago's site plan cross over the river letting traffic flow as though it were not even there. It should be noted that Chicago has more drawbridges than any other city in the world.
With the constant of the towers that make Chicago the great city that it artists have flocked to her shoreline to make wonderful drawings and paintings. The most popular views of the skyline are from Lake Michigan looking west. Also views from Lake Shore Drive going from either the north or the south are spectacular. Artists have made prints of their work to sell tourists passing through making Chicago a center for Art. Complimenting the artist prints are prints by photographers of the skyline in various angles, most popular from the air. If you want to get a full appreciation of the art and prints of Chicago you can do an Internet search and see all that there is offered.
Stephen F. Condren