Courtesy of Museum of Art
The Rocky Statue and Steps
Eastern entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Price:
Free Admission
Type:
Monuments & Historic Sites
Almost every hour of every day, you’ll find someone running up “the Rocky steps,” reenacting the iconic scene from the 1976 film in which the title character races up the staircase to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raises his arms triumphantly at the top. You’ll find these famous stairs at the museum’s east entrance, and whether you run or walk them, you’ll be rewarded at the top with a beautiful view of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Philly’s own Champs-Elysées) and the Center City skyline beyond. A bronze Rocky statue, made for Rocky III, was left by Sylvester Stallone at the top of the stairs as a gift to the city. This unexpected gesture caused a great deal of controversy—museum officials were nothing short of horrified by this “gift.” Eventually compromise was struck, and the statue now lives at the base of the steps, off to the side along a grassy knoll.
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The Rocky Statue and Steps
Eastern entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia
19130