The Franklin Institute
Science Museum · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A science museum founded in 1824 to promote the mechanical arts, which makes it one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the United States, and which for two centuries has also functioned as a scientific society handing out one of the older science prizes in the world. Its rotunda holds the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, a twenty-foot seated marble Franklin under a dome, designated a National Memorial by Congress in 1972 — and it can be walked into without a ticket. The Giant Heart, a two-storey walk-through model built in 1954, is the exhibit generations of Philadelphians remember.
222 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103, United States
Open daily, generally 9:30 AM to 5 PM with later hours in peak season, and closed on a small number of major holidays. Timed tickets, cheaper online than at the door. Travelling exhibitions and the large-format cinema are ticketed separately. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial rotunda is free during opening hours.
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