We've driven past Springfield numerous times. Finally stopped to see this. Should have stopped years ago! Excellent displays to show the life of one of our most famous Presidents. We watched two movies - always a great help to see life on the big screen. Plan on 3 hours to take it all in.

It’s a large museum and attached library. You pay to enter the museum - it’s not clear if you can enter the library for free or it’s included in your ticket - but you only pay once. Inside there are great exhibits. We really liked the replica White House and the Theatre where a 20 minute film shows the key points of Lincoln’s life. Well worth a visit

The best Presidential Library of any we visited. Outstanding exhibits, friendly informative staff, and store. Explore the area, pleasant time walking the town, Lincoln's home, then short drive to tomb.

All around great museum. Exhibits have enough reading for the readers. Enough interactive for the visual. Enough facts and history not to overwhelm the visitor. Wonderful activities to engage the children. One of the best presidential museums I have visited.

Its $15 to get in ($12 for us olds) and its the entire history of Abraham Lincoln from birth to death with films, wax figures, lots of reading and interactive activities. Spend about 2-3 hours there depending on your interest level. Free parking about a block away in a garage. Great gift shop. Take lots of pictures. Its well worth the stop

Such a well planned museum! It takes the bits and pieces of Lincoln’s life that we learned in our high school history books, and brings it all together to present the story of a very complex man, from his birth in a log cabin to his assassination, and many of the formative events in his life along the way. If you are history buffs like us, I recommend allowing at least 3 hours to see the exhibits, so that you have time to read everything, watch the videos included in some of the exhibits, and not feel rushed. The 4 minute film that condenses every battle of the Civil War (and their casualties) into an evolving timeline is not to be missed. We actually watched it twice. A friend who previously visited the museum had encouraged us to watch Ghosts in the Library (in the Holavision Theater) and the Lincoln’s Eyes film (in the Union Theater) before starting through the exhibits, and that was an excellent suggestion. That allowed us to take our time during the rest of our visit without having to worry about running back to the lobby to catch these special presentations. Show times are staggered, which allowed us to move quickly from one to the other. We parked for free one block away on the ground level of the parking deck. Highly recommend combining the museum with a visit to the Lincoln National Historic Site a few blocks away, as well as to his family’s tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery (and snag a docent tour of the tomb if at all possible, very informative).

I have been a volunteer at the museum since 2014. I have met visitors from six continents. The changing exhibits in the Illinois Gallery are always amazing. Currently the "Here I Have Lived" exhibit features 24 famous people from Illinois. The title of the exhibit is based on Lincoln's Farewell speech when he and his family left the Great Western Depot for Washington, D.C. I speak German and French which comes in handy when we have busloads of foreign visitors. Sharing stories about Lincoln and his family with visitors is a great joy for me. I taught U.S. History 1850-1960. We spent a month on the Civil War. I made a PowerPoint for my students titled Abraham Lincoln, His Life, Career, and Legacy. I have shown it to groups all over Illinois. There is a Dymaxium car designed by R. Buckminster Fuller in the Plaza.

Wow! Modern, immersive museum. Great exhibits on Lincoln's early life, the white house, and then death. Great use of lighting, sound, figures, and artifacts to tell an engaging and immersive story. If you have time for only one movie, make it Ghosts of the Museum. I did both movies and if you hit Ghosts you can book it across the atrium to the Eyes of Lincoln to hit both in a short span. The additional Illinois gallery was okay but skippable.

This is a really, really well done museum. I learned several things about Lincoln, and not all of them good, as the museum does not portray him as faultless, and it does not at all shy away from the fact that he had many detractors in life. I actually found the hall full of copies of critical editorial cartoons especially fascinating. The museum really made me appreciate what a challenging life and presidency Lincoln had (of course I knew his presidency was challenging, but the museum does a great job of highlighting the pressures that were coming at him from all sides). The recreation of the room where he lay in state was genuinely moving. Be sure to see both theater shows. They are timed to show right after each other, so you can watch both in less than 30 minutes. They are not your average boring, dry museum movies. While they are a little cheesy in order to appeal to all ages, I still very much enjoyed them as an adult, and learned from both of them, and they do an excellent job of incorporating modern technology and being engaging.

This was an excellent museum with high quality exhibits. It was a bit smaller than I expected and it was a 1/2 day excursion for us (approximately 3-3.5 hours, including the small exhibit area in the adjacent library). It was my favorite site in Springfield. If you like museums, this is a must-see when in Springfield.