Rocky statue moves into the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the first time

After decades of standing outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rocky has finally been invited in.

On Wednesday morning, the statue of the fictional heavyweight champion boxer portrayed by actor Sylvester Stallone will move from near the base of the museum’s steps into the building, to be a part of the “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments” exhibition from April 25 to Aug. 2.

“Timed to align with the 50th anniversary of the Rocky film franchise, the exhibition will examine why societies often root for the ‘underdog,’ a figure in our collective imagination, ” the exhibition description reads.

The exhibition will be curated by Paul Farber, director and co-founder of Monument Lab and host of WHYY’s “The Statue” podcast, which details the history and issues surrounding the artwork.

A. Thomas Schomberg’s sculpture was commissioned for “Rocky III” in 1980. Between then and 2006, it moved around a bit before settling in its current location at street level, where it has drawn an estimated 4 million tourists each year. It’s also spurred a love/hate debate through the decades over whether it can be classified as art or embraced as a symbol of the city.

Those who don’t feel that the movie prop should share the same hallowed halls as works by Claude Monet, Thomas Eakins or Marcel Duchamp — or who kept siding against the “Italian Stallion” in each of the movies — don’t worry: Rocky’s stay is only temporary.

After the exhibition ends, the statue will go back outside and be placed permanently on top of the museum’s steps, where it was first unveiled in 1981.

During Wednesday morning’s move, the base of the museum’s steps and the area around the statue will be closed off from the public, along with street closures in effect along Spring Garden between Kelly Drive and MLK Drive.

A second statue, one of three made by Schomberg and on loan from Stallone himself, has been at the top of the museum steps since the first-ever RockyFest in 2024, on loan from Stallone’s personal collection. That one will remain outside over the summer and be returned to Stallone when the original is moved out of the museum.

There are currently three Rocky statues in the city. The third one was unveiled at Philadelphia International Airport last November and will remain a permanent fixture in Terminal A-West, between Gates 15 and 16. There’s also a fourth statue in Serbia, although that was made by a different artist.

The statue of Philly’s real-life heavyweight champion “Smokin’ Joe Frazier, which currently stands outside Stateside Live! at the sports complex, will eventually move into the space left at the bottom of the museum steps.

Critics have condemned the sparse civic recognition of Frazier’s legacy compared with celebrations of the fictional character Rocky. During the City’s Art Commission meeting approving that move, Creative Philadelphia’s Chief Cultural Officer Valerie V. Gay said that discussions were already underway to integrate historic information and community outreach on Frazier with the Rocky exhibition.

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