Like Philadelphia’s own Parthenon, the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art sits majestically on a rise at the end of the city’s famous Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The vast collections in this temple of art make it one of the largest art museums in the country — and an absolute must-see on the city’s cultural circuit.
The museum’s holdings encompass more than 240,000 works spanning 2,000 years, including pieces from the ancient world, medieval times, the Renaissance, the Impressionist movement and modern day. On the same trip, visitors can check out:
- paintings by Renoir, van Gogh and Picasso
- a collection of suits of armor
- a one-acre outdoor sculpture garden, and
- a complete 14th-century Buddhist temple.
World-renowned architect Frank Gehry led a major transformation of the attraction’s interior in recent years. A new north entrance opened in fall 2019, and new galleries, public spaces and exhibits opened in May 2021.
