Philadelphia Art Museum & the Rocky Steps
Run up the 72 steps made famous by Rocky, then step inside one of America’s great art museums.
Photo: Meihe Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0
Philadelphia Art Museum guide: the Rocky Steps and the statue, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Duchamp, the medieval cloister and Japanese teahouse, the Rodin Museum, tickets and tips.
What to expect
At the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the museum’s Greek-temple building on Fairmount hill opened in 1928. In 2025 it changed its name from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the Philadelphia Art Museum, but for most visitors it remains the place of the Rocky Steps.
In the 1976 film, Sylvester Stallone’s boxer ran up the 72 stone steps of the east entrance and raised his arms at the top, and visitors from around the world still copy him. A bronze statue of Rocky stands at the foot of the steps, and the top gives a fine view down the parkway to City Hall.
Inside, the collection of around 240,000 objects ranges from Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Cézanne’s Large Bathers to the largest group of works by Marcel Duchamp in the world. Whole rooms have been brought from abroad, including a medieval French cloister, a Japanese teahouse and a stone temple hall from India.
Nearby on the parkway, the Rodin Museum holds one of the largest collections of the sculptor’s work outside Paris, including a cast of The Thinker.
Don’t miss
- 1Running up the Rocky Steps
- 2Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
- 3The medieval cloister and the Japanese teahouse
- 4The Rodin Museum on the parkway
Best time to visit
All year; the steps are best at sunrise, the galleries on weekday mornings.
Insider tips
- Run the steps early in the morning, before the crowds and tour buses.
- Take the photo with the Rocky statue first; the line grows fast.
- Combine it with a walk along the Schuylkill River Trail behind the museum.
Fees, passes and parking
- Federal park passes such as America the Beautiful are not valid here.
- Museum tickets are sold online and at the door; the Rocky Steps and the Rocky statue outside are free at any hour.
- Public transit is the easiest way to get around the center.
Checked Oct 28, 2026. Official prices
Gas and fast charging nearby
438 gas stations within 20 km
- 0.5 km Gulf
- 0.5 km Sunoco
- 0.8 km Sunoco
- 1.4 km BP
- 1.6 km Sunoco
- 1.8 km Gas station
- 0.9 km Tesla Supercharger Fast chargers (Supercharger)
- 2.5 km Tesla Supercharger Fast chargers (Supercharger)
- 5.3 km EVgo Fast chargers (EVgo)
- 7.0 km Tesla Supercharger Fast chargers (Supercharger)
OpenStreetMap data, Oct 28, 2026.
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