Philadelphia Museum of Art

Even on a hazy day you can see America's third-largest art museum from City Hall -- a resplendent, huge, beautifully proportioned Greco-Roman temple on a hill. Because the museum, established in the 1870s, has relied on donors of great wealth and idiosyncratic taste, the collection does not aim to present a comprehensive picture of Western or Eastern art. Its strengths, however, are dazzling: It houses undoubtedly one of the finest groupings of art objects in America, and no visit to Philadelphia would be complete without at least a walk-through; allow 2 hours minimum. Late hours on Friday have become a city favorite, and there is a new bar open in summer in the elegant front courtyard overlooking the city skyline.

The museum is designed simply, with L-shaped wings off the central court on two stories. Paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts are grouped within set periods. The front entrance (facing City Hall) admits you to the first floor. Special exhibition galleries and American art are to the left; the collection emphasizes that Americans came from diverse cultures, which combined to create a new and distinct aesthetic. French- and English-inspired domestic objects, such as silver, predominate in the Colonial and Federal galleries, but don't neglect the fine rooms of Amish and sturdy Shaker crafts. The 19th-century gallery has many works by Philadelphia's Thomas Eakins, which evoke the spirit of the city in watercolors and oils.

The once controversial 19th- and 20th-century European and contemporary art galleries highlight Cézanne's monumental Bathers and Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase.

Upstairs, spread over 83 galleries, is a chronological sweep of European arts from medieval times through about 1850. The John G. Johnson Collection, a Renaissance treasure-trove, has been added to the museum's holdings. Roger van der Weyden's diptych Virgin and Saint John and Christ on the Cross, one of the Johnson Collection, is renowned for its exquisite sorrow and beauty. Another, van Eyck's Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, is unbelievably precise (borrow the guard's magnifying glass). Other masterpieces include Poussin's frothy Birth of Venus (the USSR sold this and numerous other canvases in the early 1930s, and many were snapped up by American collectors) and Rubens's sprawling Prometheus Bound. The remainder of the floor takes you far away -- to medieval Europe, 17th-century battlefields, Enlightenment salons, and Eastern temples.

The museum also owns and operates a massive, gorgeous Art Deco gallery across the Fairmount and Pennsylvania avenues. The Perelman Building showcases some of the museum's most comprehensive, colorful, and cutting-edge collections in elegant new design and textiles galleries. Among its other welcoming spaces is a library open to the public with a changing display of rare books, precious documents, and graphic arts. There are also a 100-seat cafe overlooking a landscaped terrace, a design-minded gift shop, and a skylit walkway. Coming soon: A new tunnel designed by Frank Gehry that will connect the main building to this one.

The museum has excellent dining facilities. Art After 5 is the museum's unique blend of entertainment from 5 to 8:45pm on Friday in the Great Stair Hall. On the first Friday of each month, there's an eclectic mix of international music, with both renowned and emerging jazz artists performing all other Fridays.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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