Building Transformation
A Sphinx at the Threshold
A new Main Entrance Hall, created by the removal of the wide staircase leading down to the Harrison Auditorium, is the central feature of the Penn Museum’s construction project concluding this fall, which also includes a full restoration of the historic Auditorium and its lobby area, the creation of a new, light-filled pathway to the famed Egyptian Galleries, and the addition of the new elevators and restrooms. The spaces transformed by this first phase construction project will reopen, alongside the Africa and Mexico and Central America Galleries, in a festive celebration over the weekend of November 16 and 17.
Presiding at the heart of this new Hall, the Museum’s unofficial mascot and favorite 13-ton colossus will greet visitors as they step through our Kamin Main Entrance doors this fall: the red granite Sphinx of Ramesses II, the largest sphinx in the western hemisphere.
In June, the Sphinx will make slow and stately progress through the Museum, from the lower gallery of the Coxe (Egyptian) Wing to his place in the new Main Entrance Hall. This journey, however, is far from the first the Sphinx has taken. After crossing the ocean from Memphis, Egypt, he was greeted by an excited public in 1913 as he docked at the Delaware and slowly made his way across the city to the Museum, where he was met by an enthusiastic parade of Penn students. His first home at the Museum was in the Warden Garden before being moved inside to the space that was the Main Entrance Hall in 1916. For ten years, the Sphinx greeted visitors while the Coxe Wing was planned and constructed; he then made his final move of the 20th century, in 1926, to the center of the lower Egyptian gallery. Now, nearly a century later, the Sphinx will take one more journey, to the heart of the new Main Entrance Hall.

To the left of the Sphinx in the new Hall, an elegant keyhole-shaped space will make a perfect display for a single, iconic object; one of the two new elevators will flank his right, serving the Harrison Auditorium and new cloakrooms and lockers below, and the dramatic China Rotunda Gallery above.
The large, airy space behind the Sphinx will be a new and much-used venue for public programs and Museum and Penn special events, seating up to 100 for dinner and accommodating more for cocktail or stand-up receptions. In this space, against the Rotunda wall, will be a large display showcasing iconic objects from each of the Museum’s curatorial sections, to serve as a compelling introduction to our collections. To the right will be a new visitor lounge, where comfortable chairs and tables with Museum books and activities for children will invite visitors to pause and orient themselves during public opening hours, and be removable to accommodate programs and special events at other times.

New Student Exhibition
Memory Keepers: Why Objects Matter Opened March 28, 2019
Three Penn student curators have worked since September with Museum staff to create a small exhibition inspired by the Penn Provost’s 2018–19 Reading Project: The Year of Why. Madison Greiner (C19, PAFA–Penn Fine Arts), Megan McKelvey (C20, Biological Anthropology & Music), and Malkia Okech (C19, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations) have learned first-hand about the curatorial, content development, administrative, and design aspects of staging a new exhibition. During the year-long, paid internship, they planned, developed, designed, fabricated, and installed a small exhibition located on the first floor. After the exhibition opening, they will implement educational programs and events for the Museum’s public and academic audiences.
The exhibition was inspired by this year’s Penn-selected reading of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927). Working closely with curatorial advisor Lucy Fowler Williams, Ph.D., Associate Curator and Sabloff Keeper of Collections in the American Section, and Anne Tiballi, Ph.D., Mellon Director of Academic Engagement, the students explored the agency of objects and reflected on a series of questions such as, what kinds of objects bring meaning to people’s lives? How are these meanings activated in their social contexts? Do object materials play a role? And, ultimately, why do objects matter? Eventually the team settled on 11 remarkable objects that hold powerful memories of individuals and communities through time and around the globe.

Now Open
Ancient Egypt: From Discovery to Display
In the special exhibition Ancient Egypt: From Discovery to Display, opened in February, visitors trace the path of some of our most popular artifacts; explore themes like kingship, deities, daily life, and the afterlife; speak with conservators about their work on these artifacts; see Egyptian artifacts in open storage; and learn more about ancient Egypt and Penn’s excavations there.
Curated by Jennifer Houser Wegner, Ph.D., Associate Curator in the Egyptian Section, this special exhibition is located in Pepper Hall and the Changing Exhibition Galleries on the third floor.


Programs, Tours, and Events
in addition to free, hour-long public tours exploring a changing roster of galleries and themes on Saturdays and Sundays, the Penn Museum is pleased to now offer an hour-long Highlights of the Collection tour in Mandarin language, on Fridays from 2:30–3:30 pm. Groups of 10 or more can schedule a private group tour at discounted admission; tours arranged in advance are offered in Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic, as well as English.
Mandarin language tours were among a wide array of activities offered on Lunar New Year, held January 19 to celebrate one of the most important and festive holidays in many Asian communities around the world. A family-friendly afternoon festival featured traditional dance and music, contemporary Asian film, tangram workshops, martial arts demonstrations, storytelling, calligraphy, and art-making; then, as day gave way to evening, guests enjoyed cocktails and performances ranging from stand-up comedy to ancestral chamber pop music and Taiko drumming.
The previous month’s CultureFest, Winter Solstice, celebrated the shared wonder of light across cultures, with a winter market, art activities, food, tours, and performances, and an evening cocktail mixer and dance party as well as a spectacular fire-dance in the Garden.



Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp at the Penn Museum, for children ages 7–13, begins Monday, June 24, with a themed week of activities “Exploring Ancient Cities.” Junior Anthropologists (aged 6, who will be entering first grade in fall 2019) can join the fun with their own camp starting July 8, with the themed week “Adventurous Animals and Cunning Creatures.”
To register or for more information on either camp, please email summercamp@pennmuseum.org.
Summer programs for all ages kick off Monday, July 2, when the Penn Museum invites all of Philadelphia to explore history for free, as part of the annual Wawa Welcome America Philadelphia festival.
For information on other family and adult programs, visit www.penn.museum/programs, or sign up for our e-newsletter at www.penn.museum to have new and upcoming program announcements delivered to your inbox.
