Americans will celebrate International Museum Day on Thursday. It is a day to recognize and celebrate our beloved cultural institutions.
PennStakes.com took a break from Pennsylvania sports betting and casino news to look at the rich history and concentration of museums in the United States.
Using data from the 2018 edition of the Institute of Museum and Library Services Institute of Museum and Library Sciences’ Data Files, PennStakes.com calculated the number of “Museums, Botanical Gardens, Planetariums, and Zoos” per square mile, and ranked them accordingly.
Pennsylvania, as you will see, ranked No. 8.
The Keystone State comfortably sits in the Top 10, ranking eighth, ahead of No. 9 Ohio and No. 10 Hawaii.
Did you know that Pennsylvania has 322 museums over 46,054 square miles? That is close to 70 per 10,000 square miles.
The state's highest-rated museum, which hosted a very famous scene in movie history: Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).
Located on 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway with breathtaking views of the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia City Hall and Eakins Oval, PMA is globally known for the 72 stone steps leading up to museum's entrance that were conquered by Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky,” the often-mentioned 1976 film that is one of the first to ever utilize the Steadicam.
The Steadicam is a stabilized camera mount that allows the operator to walk and even climb steps while filming smoothly.
An endless number of visitors each try to replicate Rocky’s famous upward climb. This writer has tried it, completed it and was winded at the end of it.
A bronze Rocky statue was briefly at the top of the steps for the filming of “Rocky III” (1982) and is now located at the bottom of the steps for visitors.
Oh, yes. There are permanent arts collections inside the museum as well, featuring Duchamp, Picasso and Van Gogh, to name a few. The museum has approx. 240,000 pieces of art.
Author
Lou Monaco had been East Coast Scene columnist for Gaming Today in Las Vegas since June 2019, covering the East Coast sportsbook scene with emphasis on NJ and PA. He also currently is a part-time writer for the high school sports department for NJ Advanced Media (NJ.com) in Iselin, NJ. Lou has over 30 years sports experience with previous stints at ESPN SportsTicker, Daily Racing Form and Oddschecker.
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