Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art traces its origins to the 1876 Centennial Exposition, America's first World's Fair. Memorial Hall housed the fine arts display during the exposition, and those 4,000 works became the foundation of the new museum. Originally called the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, the institution modeled itself on London's South Kensington Museum, teaching design to make Philadelphia's manufactured goods competitive with European products. The collection has since grown to over 240,000 objects spanning 4,000 years.

The current Greek Revival building on Fairmount hill opened in 1928, drawing a million visitors in its first year. Julian Abele, one of the first professionally trained African American architects, designed the exterior and many interiors. El Greco's emotional Pietà, Thomas Eakins's unflinching portraits, and Mary Cassatt's intimate scenes represent the collection's American strength. Works by Rembrandt, Degas, and Juan Gris fill the European galleries. The museum holds the world's richest collection of Eakins, thanks to gifts from his widow Susan and family friend Mary Adeline Williams in 1929.