Visit The Unique Philadelphia Museums

Renée S. Gordon History Travel Writer

The nine Muses were goddesses of the Ancient Greeks charged with inspiring those with all forms of artistic ability to attain ever more greatness. Their parents are Zeus, King of the Gods, and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory. The basis for our current word museum is “Museion,” the place of the Muses. Alexandria, Egypt was the site of the most renowned museion and the famed library.

The earliest, documented, public museum predates the Alexandrian structure by more than 1,000-years. In Ur, believed site of the birth of the People of the Book’s patriarch Abraham, 2,500-years ago Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna established a museum. She was a priestess who was in charge of educating the younger women and she founded her museum in 530 BC within the palace compound. The empire, and her museum, ended circa 500 BC. mymodernmet.com/ennigaldi-nanna

In 1925 English archaeologist Leonard Wooly located and began excavating the complex ruins and located some of the displays from the museum. Also unearthed were the world’s first museum labels. Ennigaldi-Nanna had curated the artifacts, some dating from as early as 2600 BC, with etched clay cylinders in three languages, describing the displayed article. Wooley is credited with excavating as many as 35,000 objects.

Museums are commonly an outgrowth of an individual’s private collection that is gifted or bequeathed to showcase. Ennigaldi-Nanna’s father, Nabonidus, king and archaeologist and King Nebuchadnezzar II’s collections were the foundation of her museum. The Philadelphia museums in this article are the results of personal tastes and a desire to expose the public to what they love. Philadelphia boasts nearly 100 museums but the three highlighted should not be missed. The Mütter Museum of medical history, part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, was established with an 1858 donation from Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter. It was initially on Locust Street but was relocated, with original display cases, in 1909 to 19 S. 22nd Street. Mütter was the chair of surgery at Jefferson College and pioneered both plastic surgery and the use of anesthesia. He died at the age of 48 and gifted his massive collection of antique medical tools, models, anatomical specimens and bodies, along with $30,000 ($1,135,339.02) to erect and maintain a building, to the College of Physicians. The museum was only accessible to medical professionals until the 1970s when the public was allowed entry.

The museum is internationally famous. Highlights of the exhibited collections are slides of Einstein’s brain, an 8-ft. long and 29-inch around colon, 139 human skulls, the death cast of Siamese twins Chang and Eng and President Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumor. The collection has grown to 25,000 artifacts.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) mandates that federal agencies and institutions return Native American “cultural items” and bodies to descendants and tribes. The Mütter is in the act of returning some remains and examining their current ethical responsibilities. Muttermuseum.org

Philadelphia’s Jules E. Mastbaum’s admiration of French sculptor Auguste Rodin resulted in an unparalleled collection of his works displayed in the sole Rodin Museum not in France. Mastbaum, after making a fortune in cinema, became a serious art collector. Between 1924 and 26 he purchased more than 200 of Rodin’s works, some of which were cast personally for Mastbaum. Eventually his collection would include drawings and small pieces. In 1926 he requested permission to build a museum for the public from Fairmount Park Conservancy and received land on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. He hired architects to build a museum that blended art and the natural landscape. It opened on November 29. There are approximately 150 works in the Rodin collection. Featured pieces include The Eternal Springtime, Young Mother in a Grotto, Sorrow and The Thinker. The real museum showpiece is the first bronze casting of Rodin’s 37-year project, The Gates of Hell a, 20 feet 10 3/4 inches × 13 feet 2 inches × 33 3/8 inches pair of doors, depicting the human condition with more than 200 figures, is beyond striking. Rodinmuseum.org

Albert C. Barnes was born of a poor family and worked his way through the University of PA Medical School. While working as a researcher he and a partner created Argyrol, an anti-infective that made him wealthy by age 35. He bought out his partner in 1908 and as owner he integrated the workforce by race and gender, shortened his staff’s workday to 6-hours and added a voluntary educational component. Twoyears later he sent two men to Paris to collect paintings. They returned with 30 paintings. He continued to collect and was the first collector to amass African works as art and not utilitarian cultural icons. He was deeply involved with the Harlem

Renaissance and African American art.

He opened the Barnes Foundation in 1925 within a purpose-built neoclassical mansion with an arboretum in suburban Philadelphia. His collection grew to include Native American, American, European art as well as furnishings. His arrangements, he referred to as ensembles, of artworks blend cultures, style, genres, colors and shapes in order for viewers to connect with the art in a variety of ways. He died in 1951 and left behind his foundation and a number of rules to govern its management. No works in the collection were to be copied for retail use, the number of visitors was limited and no work was ever to be moved from its original gallery placement.

The city immediately set out to take ownership of the $25-billion collection. They moved it to a 4.5-acre site in Philadelphia. The original Barnes was replicated at the heart of the larger foundation. All of the galleries are as they were originally and no object is more than 1/2-inch from its former placement. Among the 4,000 rare artworks on display are 179 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses. Highlights not to be missed are “The Bathing Group” (Renoir), “The Dance” (Matisse), “The Card Players” (Cézanne), “The Postman” (Vincent van Gogh) and “Redheaded Girl in Evening Dress” (Modigliani).

Currently a special exhibition, ALEXEY BRODOVITCH: ASTONISH ME, is on view until May 19, 2024. Brodovitch was a graphic designer, instructor, illustrator, and photographer who greatly influenced the art world. @barnesfoundation