Page 117 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

PHILADELPHIA , PENNSY L V ANIA  115

Also in Fairmount Park is the e The Barnes
99-acre (40-ha) Laurel Hill Foundation
Cemetery. This vast “park within
a park” is dotted with obelisks, Philadelphia Campus, 2025 Benjamin
Franklin Parkway. Tel (610) 667-0290.
statuary, and classic Greek @ 44. Open 10am–5pm Wed–Mon
mausoleums. It was such a (6–9pm first Fri of the month).
popular picnic and walking Closed public hols. & 7 8 =
area during the late Victorian ∑ barnesfoundation.org
period that admission was by
ticket only. Established in the year 1922 to
share the private collection of
w Philadelphia pharmaceutical magnate Albert
C. Barnes with “people of all
Museum of Art socioeconomic levels,” this
26th St & Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. museum has one of the world’s
Tel (215) 763-8100. @ Philly Phlash, 7, premier displays of French
32, 38, 43, 48. Open 10am–5pm Tue– modern and Post-Impressionist
Downtown Philadelphia rising above Sun; main building open on Wed & Fri paintings. Among the more
Fairmount Park till 8:45pm. Closed Mon, legal hols. than 800 works on view, there
& Sun donation. 7 9 8 0 - are 180 by Auguste Renoir,
Japanese house and gardens = ∑ philamuseum.org 69 by Paul Cézanne, 60 by
among other features. A water- Henri Matisse, and more by
works, innovative in 1840, This museum attracts major Picasso, Seurat, Modigliani, van
was designed and built to exhibitions to supplement Gogh, Rousseau, and almost
pump water from the Schuylkill its superlative permanent every other noteworthy artist
River, which divides the park collec tion ranging from of that era. Other exhibits
into east and west. The grounds 15th-century illuminated include ancient Greek and
are interspered with roads, manuscripts to modern sculp- Egyptian art, medieval
hiking, biking, and bridle trails. ture by Constantin Brancusi. manuscripts, African sculpture,
Visitors can also rent rowboats The full-scale medieval cloister American furniture, ceramics,
and canoes. courtyard and fountain on and handwrought ironwork.
A handful of rowing clubs the second floor is a The art is
occupy Victorian boathouses favorite, as are the displayed to
along the river. The boathouses French Gothic highlight artistic
are turreted, gabled, and decor- chapel and a affinities between
ated with coats of arms. At pillared temple diverse works.
night, when viewed from the from Madurai, For instance, the
West Fairmount Park shore, India. Throughout Barnes Collection
the houses are outlined with the museum Medieval diptych, Philadelphia is displayed in
tiny lights. are computerized Museum of Art accordance
In 1894, wealthy manufacturer stations with with Dr. Barnes’
Richard Smith donated Smith information on the exhibits. unique specifications –
Playground to the children of A collection of Pennsylvania paintings, sculpture, and
Philadelphia in memory of his Dutch and American decor- craft pieces are grouped into
son. Among the attractions are ative arts adjoins galleries 96 distinct ensembles, with-
merry-go-rounds, a giant slide, that feature paintings by out labels and with very little
and a mansion and playhouse. American artists. regard to chronology.

The glittering silhouettes of Victorian boathouses along Schuylkill River, Fairmount Park

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