Where to go: The city’s top attractions, according to visitphilly.com
FRANKLIN SQUARE
Franklin Square, one of Philadelphia’s five original public squares laid out by William Penn in his original plan for the city, has undergone a dramatic renovation. The park now boasts several family-friendly attractions, including a miniature golf course, classic carousel, burger joint, picnic area and the famous storytelling bench, where you can hear tales of Franklin Square’s past and learn about the communities touched by the Square courtesy of the storytellers of Once Upon a Nation.
THE PENN MUSEUM
For more then 125 years, the Penn Museum has sponsored worldwide scientific expeditions which yielded many of the more than 1m artifacts on display, including Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets (some of the world’s oldest writing), architectural elements from the 3,200-year-old palace of the pharaoh Merenptah, the 4,500-year-old jewellery of Queen Puabi’s from the Mesopotamian royal cemetery at Ur (in modern-day Iraq), towering ancient Maya stone monuments and masks from west Africa.
INDEPENDENCE HALL
During the blistering summer of 1776, 56 men gathered at the Pennsylvania State House and defied the King of England. Eleven years later, representatives from 12 states gathered to shape the US constitution, finally creating one unified nation. George Washington’s “rising sun” chair dominates the assembly room, which is arranged as it was during the constitutional convention. In the adjacent west wing, the original inkstand used to sign the declaration and an original draft of the constitution are displayed.