Star-studded ceremony welcomes Obama Presidential Center to Chicago – live

Meanwhile, in Chicago, thousands ⁠of invited guests, led by former presidents and heads of state, converged on a lakefront park to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honoring the 44th president of the United States, Reuters reported. People attend a dedication ceremony for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Photograph: Octavio Jones/Reuters Former president Barack ⁠Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were ⁠joined at the event by the other ​three living former presidents — former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Joe Biden — and their wives, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton , Laura Bush and Jill Biden . Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha , sat with their parents on the main stage of the ceremony. Reuters reports that the roster ⁠of VIPs in attendance also included former vice-president Kamala Harris and her spouse, Douglas Emhoff , former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and such foreign dignitaries as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau . The occasion, under partly cloudy skies, marked the ceremonial opening of the Obama Center, an $850 million development that local historians say ⁠marks the greatest single investment in a century in Chicago’s long-neglected South Side. Fomer US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama arrive at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images