The Top Things To Do And See In University City Philadelphia

Philadelphia is well known in both popular culture as the rest of United States, being the place where the Founding Fathers met in order to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Movies like Philadelphia and Rocky only contributed to settling the historic city in legend and today the town is laden to the brim with interesting things to see and do, even across the Schuylkill River and amidst youthful University City.

Sports and relax

Weather you’re a student or a tourist, you enjoy watching sports or playing them, there are a lot of dedicated spaces in University City. Right beside The Woodlands Estate is the Hamlin Tennis Center, situated inside Penn Park, where everyone can either find a spot to relax or play soccer with a view of Philadelphia in the background. For football lovers there is Franklin Field, a stadium for football and lacrosse. And then there are the oodles of other gardens and green spaces that pepper the area.

The Woodlands

Cemetery, University

Situated on the left bank of the Schuylkill River, The Woodlands is an historic landmark, which includes several amenities: from the Georgian-style mansion with its impressive colonnade in the front, also somewhat recalling an ancient Greek temple, to the botanic gardens. Definitely worth a visit is the Woodlands Cemetery, in which a number of notable Americans rest. The Woodlands also hosts educational events on different subjects, from architecture to botany.

Penn Museum

Library, Museum, University

The Penn Museum is a museum of archaeology and anthropology curated by the University of Pennsylvania. Restored in 2009, the Penn Museum hosts a library and has on display archaeological pieces organized in different collections divided by continent, of which the African section is particularly rich, being one of the finest in the entire country. The museum also hosts several temporary exhibitions, especially on cultural and anthropological matters.

Irvine Auditorium

University

At the heart of the University City campus, Irvine Auditorium was built on the occasion of Philadelphia’s World Fair in 1926. It features a huge room that can accommodate numerous audience members, with a whopping 1,260 seats available. The Irvine Auditorium is home to the Curtis Organ, one of the biggest pipe organs in the world, with its 11,000 pipes. The spaces of the auditorium are rentable for events.

Fisher Fine Arts Library

Building, Church, Library, University

The Fisher Fine Arts Library is a charming building both outside and in. Resembling a mix of a church and a medieval castle on the exterior, with those high ceilings, the wide arches and the voluminous stairs, the inside looks like it came out of a movie. The library features volumes on all the aspect of the arts and history, from architecture to sacred art, from contemporary to prehistoric. Visitors may lose themselves among the shelves and pick one of the big tomes to read through at their leisure.