Claim: Major holdings of European origin are contained in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia . The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount , a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval . The museum administers collections containing over 240,000 objects including major holdings of European , American and Asian origin . The various classes of artwork include sculpture , paintings , prints , drawings , photographs , armor and decorative arts . The attendance figure for the museum was 751,797 in 2015 , an increase of 17 % from the prior year , ranking it among the top one hundred most-visited art museums in the world . The museum is also one of the largest art museums in the world based on gallery space .   The Philadelphia Museum of Art administers several annexes including the Rodin Museum , also located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway , and the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building , which is located across the street just north of the main building . The Perelman Building , which opened in 2007 , houses more than 150,000 prints , drawings and photographs , along with 30,000 costume and textile pieces , and over 1,000 modern and contemporary design objects including furniture , ceramics and glasswork . The museum also administers the historic colonial-era houses of Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove , both located in Fairmount Park . The main museum building and its annexes are owned by the City of Philadelphia and administered by a registered nonprofit corporation .   , the standard adult admission price is $ 20 which allows entrance to the main building and all annexes for two consecutive days . The museum is closed on Mondays except on some holidays . A special `` Pay What You Wish '' program is in effect on the first Sunday of each month from 10:00 a.m. -- 5:00 p.m. and every Wednesday evening from 5:00 -- 8:45 p.m. when visitors are requested to '' ... support us with whatever amount you wish . '' Several special exhibitions are held in the museum every year , including touring exhibitions arranged with other museums in the United States and abroad . Special exhibitions may have an extra charge for entrance .