The Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) is the largest university museum in the United States. It’s located at 3260 South Street on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has a collection of over one million objects spanning more than 10,000 years of human history. This guide covers opening hours, admission, transport, accessibility, and practical visitor tips.
Updated May 2026. Two changes are critical to planning a 2026 visit. First, the Egypt Galleries are closed for renovation. They are the museum’s most-visited spaces and appear in almost every other guide as the top highlight — but they are not accessible right now. Egyptian artefacts remain viewable in a special exhibition and throughout the museum. Second, new Ancient Egypt & Nubia galleries are opening in 2026 — check the official site before visiting to see if they have reopened. Book your timed entry through Viator to confirm your date.
Quick facts: Penn Museum, Philadelphia
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Address | 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 |
| Opening hours | Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00am–5:00pm |
| Closed | Mondays |
| Adult admission | $23 |
| Senior (65+) | $21 |
| Youth (6–17) / College student | $14 |
| Children (5 and under) | Free |
| Egypt Galleries | Closed for renovation — check official site for reopening |
| Nearest transit | SEPTA Route 40 bus (South Street); University City Station (~15 min walk) |
| Parking | Paid garage adjacent to museum; no free museum parking |
| Typical visit duration | 2–3 hours |
Penn Museum opening hours
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00am to 5:00pm. It is closed every Monday. Check the official site before visiting on public holidays as occasional one-off closures apply.
Timed entry tickets are required. Book your date in advance — all ticket sales are final, though the museum will reschedule your visit within one year of purchase if you cannot attend. No refunds are issued.
5 great things to do in Philadelphia
- 🥖 Taste the best of Philly on a food tour – including historic Reading Market.
- 🏛️ Get to know Philadelphia’s heritage sites – on a guided walking tour.
- 🍻 Go on a pub crawl – but learn the history between beers.
- 🎨 Let a guide show you Philadelphia’s best murals and street art – including Magic Gardens.
- 🌙 Discover Philly’s dark side – on an adults-only night tour.
Penn Museum ticket prices
All admissions require a timed ticket booked in advance online or purchased at the door.
| Visitor | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult | $23 |
| Senior (65+) | $21 |
| Youth (6–17) and college student | $14 |
| Children 5 and under | Free |
Free admission — walk-up only (cannot be booked online):
- ACCESS/EBT card holders
- Active US military personnel and veterans
- K-12 teachers
- Penn Medicine/CHOP patients and staff (also available online with a code)
- Philadelphia high-school students with ID (through STAMP)
- Tribal card holders
Free admission — all times:
- Penn Museum members
- Penn University faculty, staff, and students
Dual admission — Penn Museum + Mütter Museum: Adult $37, Senior $33, Youth/Student $23. Must be purchased in person at either museum; not available online. Not valid for groups of 10 or more.
Community Library Pass: Philadelphia-area library cardholders can borrow a pass providing free admission for two adults and household children under 18. Check with your library branch for availability.
Free days: Wawa Welcome America (July 4 celebration), Campus Philly CollegeFest (September, college students), Kwanzaa celebration (December). Check the museum calendar for current year dates.
Book your timed entry through Viator to lock in your chosen date.
Ticket prices were confirmed from the official ticket page and last updated in May 2026.
Why book the Penn Museum in advance?
- 🏛️ Over one million artefacts under one roof: The Penn Museum holds one of the world’s finest collections of archaeological and anthropological objects — from the Royal Cemetery of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia to a colossal Egyptian Sphinx, from Mayan stelae to Native American ceremonial objects.
- ⚗️ The Artifact Lab: A rare chance to watch professional conservators working on real Egyptian mummies through a large glass window, in a live working lab open to the public during museum hours.
- 🌍 Ten galleries covering human history across six continents: Africa, Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, Etruscan Italy, Greece, Mexico and Central America, the Middle East, Native North America, and Rome — all accessible with a single admission ticket.
- 📅 New Ancient Egypt & Nubia galleries opening in 2026: The permanent Egypt Galleries are undergoing a major renovation and are due to reopen with an expanded collection later in 2026. Book ahead and check the official site for the reopening date before visiting.
- 🎟️ Timed entry — book to guarantee your slot: The museum uses timed ticketing. Booking through Viator confirms your entry date and avoids the risk of a sold-out slot on a busy weekend.
How to get to the Penn Museum
The museum is on the University of Pennsylvania campus at 3260 South Street, between 32nd and 33rd Streets in West Philadelphia.
By SEPTA bus: Route 40 runs along South Street and stops directly outside the museum. This is the most direct public transit option from central Philadelphia.
By subway/train: University City Station on the Market–Frankford Line is approximately a 15-minute walk north. 30th Street Station (Amtrak and regional rail) is approximately a 12-minute walk north-west.
By trolley: SEPTA trolley routes 11, 13, and 34 stop at 34th and Spruce Streets, a short walk from the museum entrance on South Street.
On foot or by bicycle: The museum is approximately 30 minutes’ walk from Center City Philadelphia. Indego bike-share docks are available nearby.
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Parking at the Penn Museum
A paid parking garage is located adjacent to the museum. There is no free museum parking. Penn campus parking restrictions apply on surrounding streets. Visitor reviews consistently recommend arriving by public transit; on-street parking in this part of West Philadelphia is limited.
How long to spend at the Penn Museum
Most visitors spend two to three hours. The museum has ten permanent gallery areas plus rotating special exhibitions. Those who engage with the daily programmes (gallery tour at 11:30am; Daily Dig pop-up talk at 1:00pm) should allow extra time.
Accessibility at the Penn Museum
The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. All areas and surfaces are accessible, strollers are permitted, and service animals are allowed. Contact the museum in advance at (215) 898-4000 for specific accessibility arrangements.
Inside the Penn Museum: what to see
Important note: The Egypt Galleries are closed for renovation as of the date of this guide. They cannot be visited. Egyptian artefacts remain viewable in the special exhibition Ancient Egypt: From Discovery to Display, in Ancient Egypt in Watercolors, and in objects displayed throughout the museum. Ask for the Explore Egypt guide at the Welcome Desk. The new Ancient Egypt & Nubia galleries are expected to open in 2026; check the official site for a confirmed date before visiting.
Middle East Galleries contain the Penn Museum’s most internationally significant collection — artefacts from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 1930s. The collection includes the gold jewellery, musical instruments, and personal objects of the Sumerian royal court. Woolley’s Ur excavations remain the largest archaeological enterprise of the 20th century; Penn holds the world’s finest public display of its findings.
The Great Sphinx (Egyptian, reign of Ramesses II, c. 1300 BCE) is the largest sphinx in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most photographed objects in the building. It remains on display despite the gallery renovation closure.
Africa Galleries cover sub-Saharan African art, culture, and archaeology across multiple cultures and time periods, with objects from the Penn Museum’s long history of African fieldwork.
Mexico and Central America Gallery holds over 250 Maya objects, including stelae, ceremonial vessels, and jade jewellery, alongside pre-Columbian objects from Central Mexico.
Asia Galleries cover South, South-East, and East Asian art and archaeology, with particular strengths in Chinese bronzes and South Asian sculpture.
The Artifact Lab is a working conservation laboratory visible through a large glass window. Conservators work on real Egyptian mummies and artefacts during museum hours. This is a genuinely rare public access opportunity to a live conservation environment. Cartifacts, adjacent to the lab, offers hands-on experience with reproduction objects.
Daily programmes run during regular hours: a gallery tour departs from the Main Entrance at 11:30am (to 12:30pm), and the Daily Dig pop-up talk runs at 1:00pm for 15 minutes, focusing on one extraordinary artefact.
Practical visitor tips for the Penn Museum
| Tip | Detail |
|---|---|
| The Egypt Galleries are closed | Do not plan your visit around the permanent Egyptian galleries — they are currently closed for renovation. Egyptian artefacts are viewable in special exhibitions and scattered displays. Ask for the Explore Egypt guide at the Welcome Desk. |
| Book a timed entry slot | The museum uses timed ticketing. On popular dates, slots can sell out. Book in advance, particularly for weekends between May and September. |
| Arrive in time for the daily tour or pop-up | The free gallery tour (11:30am) and Daily Dig pop-up (1:00pm) are included with admission. They are excellent orientation tools, particularly for the Ur collection and lesser-known galleries. |
| No free parking on site | Use SEPTA. Route 40 is direct. The Spruce Street corridor near Penn’s campus is a pleasant walk from the subway. |
| Tickets are non-refundable | No refunds are issued under any circumstances. The museum will reschedule your visit within one year of purchase if you cannot attend your booked date. |
Frequently asked questions about the Penn Museum
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Are the Egypt galleries open at the Penn Museum? | No. The permanent Egypt Galleries are closed for renovation. Egyptian artefacts remain visible in the special exhibition Ancient Egypt: From Discovery to Display, in Ancient Egypt in Watercolors, and elsewhere in the museum. New galleries are due to open later in 2026 — check the official site before visiting. |
| Is the Penn Museum open on Mondays? | No. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am–5pm. It is closed every Monday. |
| Do you need to book in advance? | Yes. Timed entry tickets must be booked in advance or purchased at the door on arrival. All sales are final; no refunds are issued. The museum will reschedule within one year if you cannot attend. |
| Is the Penn Museum good for children? | Yes. Cartifacts offers hands-on reproduction objects; the Artifact Lab window is popular with all ages. Children 5 and under enter free. |
| Is the Penn Museum the same as the Philadelphia Museum of Art? | No. They are separate institutions. The Penn Museum (archaeology and anthropology) is in West Philadelphia near the University of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Museum of Art (fine art) is on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City, approximately 3 miles north. |
Things to do near the Penn Museum
University of Pennsylvania campus (surrounding the museum, free) is one of the most architecturally distinguished university campuses in the United States, with Victorian Gothic buildings, the Penn Commons, and the Perelman Quadrangle a short walk from the museum entrance.
Institute of Contemporary Art (118 S. 36th Street, free) is Penn’s contemporary art museum on the edge of campus, with rotating exhibitions that consistently draw national attention. Free and open to the public.
The Woodlands (4000 Woodland Avenue, free to grounds) is a 54-acre National Historic Landmark cemetery and landscape in West Philadelphia with a chapel, a walled garden, and one of the oldest planned landscapes in the United States.
Clark Park (43rd and Baltimore Avenue, free) is a neighbourhood park a short walk south-west, popular for farmers’ markets, outdoor film screenings, and the notable Clark Park chess players.
30th Street Station (~12 minutes’ walk north-west) is a magnificent 1933 Beaux-Arts Amtrak station worth seeing as an architectural landmark in its own right.
What to visit tomorrow: museums within two hours of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art (Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ~3 miles, same city) is one of the ten largest art museums in the United States, with holdings spanning 5,000 years from ancient Greek vessels to Marcel Duchamp’s complete works.
The Barnes Foundation (2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, same city, ticketed) holds the world’s largest collection of Renoir and Matisse, accumulated by Dr Albert C. Barnes in the 1920s, displayed exactly as he arranged it in a purpose-built gallery.
Mütter Museum (19 S. 22nd Street, same city, ticketed) is a medical history museum of anatomy, pathology, and historical curiosities — the natural companion for visitors drawn to the Penn Museum’s scientific perspective on human history. Combined ticket available.
Reading Terminal Market and Old City (Center City, ~20 minutes’ walk or subway, free to enter) pair well as an afternoon complement: the 1893 indoor market is one of the oldest in the country; Old City has Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
Brandywine River Museum of Art (Chadds Ford, PA, ~30 miles south-west, ~45 minutes) is a museum of American art on the Brandywine River, known for three generations of Wyeth paintings, adjacent to the Brandywine battlefield.
More Philadelphia travel
Other Philadelphia travel guides on Planet Whitley include:
- Guides to Philadelphia’s Parkway attractions – the Rodin Museum, the Barnes Foundation, the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- What to expect inside the Museum of the American Revolution and the Betsy Ross House.
- Nip over the border to the Battleship New Jersey or the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
- Practical guide to visiting the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.
- What to expect at the Independence Seaport Museum.
