Rated Tourist Attractions in Philadelphia

This creative museum is a tribute to scientist Benjamin Franklin, complete with a huge marble statue of a seated Franklin located in one of the large halls. The Franklin Institute Science Museum, which is in fact several museums under one roof, displays many of Franklin's own experiments.

With close to 100 works by famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin, this museum contains one of the most extensive collections of his work outside France. The Rodin Museum includes plasters, bronzes, and marbles of some of Rodin's most famous masterpieces.

The Philadelphia Zoo is home to a wide range of animals from around the world and is active in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation efforts, focusing on educating visitors about the ways humans impact the earth's other residents.

A must-see for any history buff, the Museum of the American Revolution is a fascinating trip back in time to the late 18th century to the conflict that helped form the United States. The museum has an excellent collection of artifacts from the time frame and does a good job of giving the visitor a taste of what life was like back then.

Established by Dr. Albert Barnes, the Barnes Foundation is an integral part of Philadelphia's Parkway museum district. It houses some of the world's biggest collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including the world's largest Renoir collection and more of Cézanne's works than there are in all of France. There are just short of 60 Matisse paintings, as well as numerous works by Degas, Manet, and Modigliani.

The Market at Reading Terminal has been a National Historic Landmark since 1995 and is a deeply rooted Philadelphia institution. It has been in operation since 1893, when the Reading Railroad Company built this space beneath their new station to accommodate the farmers and butchers who had been using the area for their open-air markets for decades.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art contains one of the United States' largest collections of paintings and other artworks. Among the finest sections of the museum are the medieval galleries, which include pictures by Rogier van der Weyden and the van Eyck brothers.

Independence National Historical Park is quite possibly America's most historic square mile. In addition to housing famous sites, such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, many other important attractions line the cobbled streets of this old area.

Independence Hall originally served as the State House of the Colony of Pennsylvania and is best known as the place where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It was also where the Continental Congress met again 11 years later and wrote the United States Constitution.

The liberty bell has long been a symbol of freedom and independence in the United States. It rang to mark the signing of the Constitution, but contrary to popular myth, the big crack came in 1846, when it tolled in observance of George Washington's birthday.