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Center City
City Hall
Broad and Market Streets
 City
Hall in Philadelphia, built in 1871, is the largest city hall
in America and the tallest building constructed without a
steel skeleton. Atop the hall at nearly 40 feet, William Penn
is the largest statue in the world to grace a building. Free
tours of City Hall are available, and visitors can ride an
elevator to the base of Penn’s feet and enjoy panoramic
views of the city and the surrounding Delaware Valley. |
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway
 The
parkway begins at Kennedy Plaza, runs northwest, and ends
at Eakins Circle in front of the Art Museum. Along with Philadelphia's
fine institutions, many monuments, statues and parks line
the parkway.
The Academy of Natural Sciences, the oldest institution of
its kind in America, was founded in 1812. The Academy includes
a collection of Thomas Jefferson's fossils. The birds and
animals displayed in natural habitats, gems and fluorescent
minerals, and special exhibits make the Academy worth a visit.
The brownstone Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, built in
1846, has a Palladian facade and a copper dome showing the
Italian Renaissance influence. The interior is immense with
the main altar and three altars on each of the side aisles
reminiscent of Old World cathedrals.
Logan Circle, one of Penn's original five squares (Northwest
Square), was renamed for James Logan in 1825. The square is
now a circle, which contains the Swann Memorial Fountain and
the most photographed flowerbeds in Philadelphia.
Founded in 1824 in honor of Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin
Institute is home to the Fels Planetarium, the Tuttleman IMAX
Theater and the Science Museum. The Franklin Institute is
a vital museum of energy, motion and sound with exhibits in
which the visitor participates.
The Free Library of Philadelphia is one of the great libraries
of the country. The main library of the Philadelphia system,
anyone may use its resources on the spot. There are always
exhibits of interest in the entrance hall, concerts, lectures
and films throughout the year. The Rare Book Department has
holdings spanning 5000 years, from cuneiform tablets, European
manuscripts dating from the 9th through the 18th century to,
Pennsylvania German frakturs to Dickens and Poe.
The Rodin Museum contains some of Rodin's greatest figures.
Sketches, books and papers of Rodin's are on display as well
as plaster casts and a series of photographs of Rodin at Meudon
by Edward Steichen. The Thinker guards the entry to a formal
garden with a lily pond providing a natural bird sanctuary. |
Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (215) 763-8100
The third largest art museum in the country
and ranked as one of the great museums in the world. A concentrated
collection of fine, applied arts spans two thousand years,
and fills hundreds of galleries. The lengthy stairs in front
of the museum contain a tribute to the movie, Rocky, and this
spot provides a marvelous panorama of the city.
Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am - 5pm. (Wednesday to 8:45pm)
Closed Monday and major holidays. |
Chinatown
10th and Arch Streets
The Friendship Gate welcomes visitors
to the Center City neighborhood now known as Chinatown. By
1890, there were less than a thousand Chinese-Americans living
here. Today, Chinatown's legacy has expanded as the home to
some 3,500 residents and as the center of Asian art, restaurants,
markets, bakeries and shops. Although tens of thousands Asians
live outside of Chinatown in other communities, the neighborhood
remains a cultural touchstone.
Chinatown is the neighbor to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The Center is connected to the historic Reading Terminal Market,
an old-fashioned farmer's market. The Reading Terminal Market,
12th and Arch Streets, was established in 1893 and is the
nation’s oldest continuously operating farmers’
market. Lancaster County Amish merchants bring farm-fresh
products, and all types of cuisine are available, from soul
food to Asian and Middle Eastern dishes to traditional Pennsylvania
Dutch fare. |
South Philly
East of Broad Street and south of South Street
South Philadelphia is famed for the Italian
Market on 9th Street, outstanding Italian restaurants, and
its cheese steak sandwich. This area is a tapestry of residential
ethnic neighborhoods and hosts the Mummers Museum celebrating
the unique Mummers string bands who perform in the New Year's
Day Parade. On Christian Street, Gloria Dei, or Old Swede’s
Church, is the oldest church in Pennsylvania. The 1700 building
replaced a 1643 log structure and is preserved among beautiful
grounds. |
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