Penn Museum

If Indiana Jones was taking a holiday in Philadelphia, this would be his first stop. Located in West Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology maintains serious scholarship and a wide-ranging collection of objects from around the globe sure to fire up your imagination and wonder. The shadowy Egyptian gallery with its 15-ton granite sphinx, ancient hieroglyph-inscribed columns and mummies will win over even the most jaded pre-teen or adult. The Chinese rotunda, with a soaring ceiling that stretches to 90 feet, houses sculptures and the famous Qing Dynasty 55-pound flawless crystal ball. Wander down hallways and discover treasures in the Etruscan, African, Greek and Canaan galleries that will bring out your inner explorer. Also, don’t miss the spectacular Middle Eastern galleries, which just opened in April 2018. The 44,000-square-foot space holds over 100,00 objects, including a 4,000-year-old human footprint embedded in an ancient mud brick.