This museum features the largest collection of art by Auguste Rodin outside France. It includes bronze castings, plaster molds, drawings, prints, and letters from the sculptor. The institution was founded by Jules Mastbaum, a movie theater magnate, who began to collect works by Rodin in 1923. In only three years, Mastbaum’s collection was the largest excluding France. The city of Philadelphia opened the museum in 1929.

Visitors to the museum can view a wide array of Rodin’s art. They include busts of the French sculptor and painter Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, a sculpture of the head of Balzac, a rendering of Rodin’s own hand holding a human torso, and detail studies for larger sculptures.

Attractions such as these, including a bronze cast of The Thinker, Rodin’s most recognizable work, and the historic tribute The Burghers of Calais, attract nearly 60,000 visitors to the museum. And although within Philadelphia’s city limits, the museum retains a peaceful atmosphere.