Why Philadelphia’s ‘Rocky’ statue is moving, and where it’s going

An iconic Philadelphia landmark is about to relocate, but it’s not going far.

On March 25, the famous “Rocky” statue that has stood proudly at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps since 2006 will be moved indoors to become part of an upcoming exhibit “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments,” museum staff announced in a statement Tuesday.

Timed to coincide with the “Rocky” film’s 50th anniversary, “Rising Up” is to open April 25 and run through Aug. 2 in the Dorrance Galleries. It’s designed to explore the changing roles of monuments by featuring more than 150 works by more than 50 artists and artifacts spanning more than 2,000 years, according to an earlier release by museum staff from December.

The “Rocky” films center around the boxer Rocky Balboa, a fictional character from an Italian immigrant family in Philadelphia.

“I am honored to curate this exhibition in my hometown at this moment of cultural urgency and much-needed public discourse,” guest curator Paul Farber said in the press release. Farber is the director and co-founder of Monument Lab and host of the NPR/WHYY podcast “The Statue”.

“The steps outside the museum are a site of pilgrimage and the ultimate people’s pedestal. ‘Rising Up’ asks why millions of people each year visit a statue of the most famous Philadelphian who never lived as a way to better understand our complex and vital relationships to our public monuments.”

Visitors should still be able to see Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky” statue located at the top of the museum steps and on loan to the city from Stallone’s private collection.

Once the exhibition concludes, the city-owned “Rocky” statue is to be relocated permanently to the top of the steps. Sylvester Stallone’s statue will then be returned to him.

During the statue’s relocation Wednesday, the base of the museum steps and the area surrounding the statue are to be closed to the public for safety purposes. Temporary street lane and sidewalk closures are to be in effect along Spring Garden Street between Kelly Drive and MLK Drive.