132 Best Sights in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Even if you aren't in Philadelphia on New Year's Day, you can still experience this unique local institution. Famous for extravagant sequin-and-feather costumes and string bands, the Mummers spend the year preparing for the all-day parade up Broad Street. A 45-inch screen shows filmed highlights of past parades.

Early English settlers brought to the colonies their Christmastime custom of dressing in costume and performing pantomimes—the name Mummers derives from the German Mumme, meaning "mask" or "disguise." In Philadelphia, families would host costume parties on New Year's Day; on January 1, 1876, the first individual groups paraded informally through the city. The parade caught on, and by 1901 the city officially sanctioned the parade and 42 Mummers' clubs strutted for cash prizes.

These days the Mummers also stage a summer Mummers Parade around July 4 (during the city's Welcome America! celebration). The museum presents free outdoor concerts (weather permitting) on most Thursday evenings 8–10 from May to September.

Skulls, antique microscopes, and a cancerous tumor removed from President Grover Cleveland's mouth in 1893 form just part of the unusual medical collection in the Mütter Museum, at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The museum has hundreds of anatomical and pathological specimens, medical instruments, and organs removed from patients, including a piece of John Wilkes Booth's neck tissue. The collection contains 139 skulls; items that belonged to Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister; and a 7-foot, 6-inch skeleton, the tallest on public exhibition in the United States.

Using interactive exhibits, video, and works of art, the museum aims to combat bigotry in the United States by putting a spotlight on the nation's rich traditions of freedom and diversity. Galleries celebrate outstanding Americans and contemporary heroes from around the world. The Live Like a Hero exhibit celebrates everyday heroes, including teachers, first responders, and extraordinary children working to better their communities. The museum's collection of glass art is symbolic of the fragility of peace; its highlight is Dale Chihuly's 21-foot-tall red glass sculpture Flame of Liberty. Sandy Skoglund's colorful Jelly Bean People are a reminder that many of our differences are only skin-deep.

Established in 1976, this museum in 2011 moved to a new, $150-million, contemporary building on a high-profile corner near Independence Hall. The 100,000-square-foot facility, via multimedia displays, historic objects, and ephemera, traces the history of American Jews from 1654 to the present. Highlights include "Only in America," a showcase of the accomplishments of 18 famed Jewish Americans, including polio-vaccine inventor Jonas Salk, actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand, and Broadway composer Irving Berlin; a three-level timeline covering everything from immigration, the formation of Israel, and the civil rights movement to the westward migration, suburban life, and Seinfeld; a Contemporary Issues Forum, where you can share your views on various issues on Post-it-style notes that are scanned electronically and displayed; and "It's Your Story," where you can record clips about your family history. The museum's exterior offers two contrasting sculptures symbolizing how American Jewish history is intertwined with the nation's story: one is a 19th-century marble monument dubbed Religious Liberty; the other, an LED torch atop the corner of the facility's glass facade.

The original of this reconstructed 1790 building briefly served as headquarters for the U.S. Department of War. On display are Revolutionary War uniforms, medals, and authentic weapons, including powder horns, swords, and a blunderbuss. Dioramas depict highlights of the Revolutionary War, and there are several scale models of warships and frigates.

Independence Hall is flanked by Congress Hall to the west and Old City Hall to the east: three distinctive Federal-style buildings erected to house the city's growing government. But when Philadelphia became the nation's capital in 1790, the just-completed city hall was lent to the federal government. It housed the U.S. Supreme Court from 1791 to 1800; John Jay was the Chief Justice. Later, the boxlike building with a peaked roof and cupola was used as the city hall. Today an exhibit presents information about the early days of the federal judiciary.

In 1733 a tiny chapel was established by Jesuits for Philadelphia's 11 Catholic families. It was one of the first places in the English-speaking colonies where Catholic mass could be legally celebrated, a right granted under William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges, which guaranteed religious freedom. But freedom didn't come easy; on one occasion Quakers had to patrol St. Joseph's to prevent a Protestant mob from disrupting services. The present church, built in 1839, is the third on this site. The late-19th-century stained-glass windows are notable.

This 24-acre park stretches along the western side of the Schuylkill River and serves as a new connector between Center City Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania campus. The park offers 12 tennis courts for public use, and extensive bike and walking trails, but its most striking feature is an elevated walk that connects to a central plaza and offers panoramic views of the Center City skyline.

It's big: a massive expansion completed in 2011 covers 20 acres of central Philadelphia. And it's beautiful: the 2.3 million square feet of space are punctuated by the largest permanent collection of contemporary art in a building of its kind. Many city and state artists are represented in the niches, nooks, and galleries built to house their multimedia works. To see the architectural highlight of the building—the Reading Terminal's magnificently restored four-story-high Victorian train shed, which has been transformed into the Convention Center's Grand Hall—enter the building through the century-old Italian Renaissance Headhouse structure on Market Street between 11th and 12th streets and ride up the escalator.

Inside the fine 18th-century original buildings of the oldest hospital in the United States are the nation's first medical library and first surgical amphitheater (an 1804 innovation, with a skylight). The hospital also has a portrait gallery, early medical instruments, art objects, and a rare-book library with items dating from 1762. The artwork includes the 1817 Benjamin West painting Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple. Today Pennsylvania Hospital is a full-service modern medical center four blocks southwest of the Athenaeum. Guided tours are available by appointment only.

Designed by the well-known Philadelphia architect William Strickland and built in 1832, this impressive Greek Revival building served as the city's commercial center for 50 years. It was both the stock exchange and a place where merchants met to trade goods. In the tower a watchman scanned the Delaware River and notified merchants of arriving ships. The exchange stands behind Dock Street, a cobblestone thoroughfare. The building houses a small exhibit on its history and now serves as the headquarters for Independence National Park.

Opened in 1874, America's first zoo is home to more than 2,000 animals representing six continents. It's small and well landscaped enough to feel pleasantly intimate, and the naturalistic habitats allow you to get close enough to hear the animals breathe. The Amphibian and Reptile House houses 87 species, from 15-foot-long snakes to frogs the size of a dime. The 2½-acre Primate Reserve is home to 11 species from around the world. Notable attractions include Big Cat Falls, where you'll find leopards, jaguars, mountain lions, tigers, and lions; the McNeil Avian Center, the state-of-the-art nest for some 100 birds; and African Plains, stomping ground of giraffes and zebras. The new children's zoo, KidZooU, has a goat bridge, where kids can test their climbing skills against live goats, a duck pond, an outdoor grooming area, a butterfly habitat, and more. You can get a bird's-eye view of the zoo and Fairmount Park on the Channel 6 Zooballoon, a 30-passenger helium balloon anchored by a high-tensile-steel cable.

This is the headquarters of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 to promote "useful knowledge." The members of the oldest learned society in America have included Washington, Jefferson, Lafayette, Emerson, Darwin, Edison, Churchill, and Einstein. Erected between 1785 and 1789 in what has been called a "restrained Federal style" (designed to complement, not outshine, adjacent Independence Hall), Philosophical Hall is brick with marble trim, has a handsome arched entrance, and houses the Society's museum, open to the public Thursday to Sunday. The society's library is across the street in Library Hall.

Philadelphia's children's museum occupies one of the city's most stately buildings, a gorgeous example of Beaux Arts–style architecture constructed for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and one of just two public buildings still standing from the event. The facility, which is aimed at children seven and younger, instills a sense of wonder from the get-go, with its marble-floored Hamilton Hall, which has an 80-foot-high ceiling and a 40-foot-tall sculpture of the torch of the Statue of Liberty as its centerpiece. (The real statue's torch was displayed here for the nation's 100th birthday celebration.) The 38,000-square-foot facility is set up as six engaging exhibits, plus three areas designed for toddlers, where kids can learn through hands-on play at a mock supermarket, a hospital area, a space gallery with a rocket-making station, Alice's Wonderland, and a theater with interactive performances. Children can climb aboard with an interactive exhibit based on the railroad, or head outside to explore the Imagination Playground or Please Touch Garden. Another highlight is a circa-1908 Dentzel Carousel ride with 52 gleaming and colorful horses, pigs, cats, and rabbits that's housed in an adjacent, enclosed glass pavilion; separate tickets can be purchased for carousel rides. There also is a café serving lunch items and snacks.

The first in a planned series of pocket parks along the Delaware River, this green space offers dramatic views of the adjacent Ben Franklin Bridge and allows you to get up-close views of the river itself. Designed by the same firm behind New York's popular High Line, the two-level promenade features lush plantings, including some three dozen trees and many perennials, as well as amphitheater-style seating near the river's edge and plenty of benches and green lawns for relaxing and free yoga classes (BYO mat) daily during the summer months.

This 1863 three-floor town house and an adjoining building are filled with Persian rugs and 18th-century British, French, and American antiques (plus an entire living room that once belonged to poet Marianne Moore), but the real treasures are the artworks, books, and manuscripts here. Amassed by Philadelphia collectors Philip H. and A. S. W. Rosenbach, the collection includes paintings by Canaletto, Sully, and Lawrence; drawings by Daumier, Fragonard, and Blake; book illustrations ranging from medieval illuminations to the works of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are; the only known copy of the first issue of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack; and the library's most famous treasure, the original manuscript of James Joyce's Ulysses. The Rosenbach celebrates "Bloomsday" on June 16 with readings from Ulysses by notable Philadelphians. The library has more than 130,000 manuscripts and 30,000 rare books.

The result of founder Samuel S. Fleisher's invitation to the world "to come and learn art," this school and gallery has offered tuition-free classes since 1898. Fleisher presents regular exhibits of contemporary art, which are selected through its competitive "Challenge" series, as well as works by faculty and students. The Memorial consists of four connected buildings on Catharine Street—including the Sanctuary, a Romanesque Revival Episcopal church designed by the architectural firm of Frank Furness and featuring European art from the 13th to the 15th century—as well as a satellite building at 705 Christian Street dedicated to works on paper.

When Second Bank president Nicholas Biddle held a design competition for a new building, he required all architects to use the Greek style; William Strickland, one of the foremost architects of the 19th century, won. Built in 1824, the bank, with its Doric columns, was based on the design of the Parthenon and helped establish the popularity of Greek Revival architecture in the United States. The interior hall, though, was Roman, with a dramatic barrel-vault ceiling. Housed here are portraits of prominent Colonial Americans by noted artists such as Charles Willson Peale, William Rush, and Gilbert Stuart. Don't miss Peale's portraits of Jefferson and Lewis and Clark: the former is the only one that shows the third president with red hair, and the latter is the only known portrait of the famous explorers. The permanent exhibition, "The People of Independence," has a life-size wooden statue of George Washington by William Rush; a mural of Philadelphia in the 1830s by John A. Woodside Jr.; and the only known likeness of William Floyd, a lesser-known signer of the Declaration of Independence.

An elegant double staircase sweeps from Broad Street up to the entrance of this 1865 French Renaissance–style building, which was added to the National Historic Register in 1979, while within lies a bastion of Philadelphia conservatism. The Union League is a private social club founded during the Civil War to support the Union—in a big way. The club contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Union war effort, then a huge sum, as well as troops and other material support. While the club remains strictly private, the Heritage Center welcomes visitors a few hours every week. Tours of the full facilities are available only for groups of 20 or more.

This formerly run-down park marking the city's connections with Florence, Italy; Tel Aviv, Israel; and eight other "sister cities" has been transformed to better suit its prime location near Logan Circle, the Four Seasons Hotel, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. The park now features a year-round café, plaza, and fountain and an extensive play area for kids inspired by the local Wissahickon watershed that features a rock-climbing area, discovery garden, and sailboat pond.

Built between 1897 and 1912 with funds donated by wealthy foundry owner Richard Smith, the memorial honors Pennsylvania heroes of the Civil War. Among those immortalized in bronze are generals Meade and Hancock—and Smith himself. At the base of each tower is a curved wall with a bench. If you sit at one end and listen to a person whispering at the other end, you can understand why they're called the Whispering Benches. Unfortunately, litter is a constant problem here.

Founded in 1899, this beloved facility has been completely refurbished in recent years with state-of-the-art, age-specific equipment; the centerpiece of the 6½-acre site is the Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide, which measures 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 10 feet tall, and can accommodate up to 12 children at a time.

James Logan may not be a household name, but he was a seminal figure in pre-Revolutionary America. He was secretary to William Penn and managed the daily affairs of the colony. Logan, who went on to hold almost every important public office in the colonies, designed the 1730 Georgian manor himself and named it for his father's birthplace in Scotland. He used it to entertain local luminaries and Native American tribal delegates. It was also where he kept one of the area's first libraries, at a time when books were looked upon with suspicion. George Washington was a guest of James's grandson on his way to the Battle of Brandywine, and British General Howe claimed it for his headquarters during the Battle of Germantown. The Stenton mansion is filled with family and period pieces; the site also includes a kitchen wing, barn, and Colonial-style garden. The guided 45-minute tour interprets the life of three generations of the Logan family and the life of the region from the 1720s through the American Revolution. This house has one of the best interiors of any of the Germantown homes. It's best to call ahead for a tour.

The largest of the Fairmount Park Historic Mansions underwent major structural repairs in 2012, including restoration of the original windows, updated wiring, and the addition of an eco-friendly, geothermal, climate-control system. It has furniture from the three main phases of its history: Federal, Regency, and Empire. In the parlor is a collection of rare Tucker and Hemphill porcelain; it also showcases a large collection of fine antique dolls and toys.

Though its name has been changed many times, this building will always be "the Bellevue" to Philadelphians. The hotel has had an important role in city life, much like the heroine of a long-running soap opera. The epitome of the opulent hotels characteristic of the early 1900s, the Bellevue Stratford was the city's leading hotel for decades. It closed in 1976 after the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, which spread through the building's air-conditioning system during an American Legion convention. The hotel has reopened several times since then, and now includes upscale shops and restaurants and a food court in its basement, but its character seems to have remained the same.