University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
- Architects
- Cope and Stewardson Frank Miles Day Wilson Eyre
- Year
- 1887
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was founded in 1887 after a successful excavation at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Nippur, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Provost William Pepper convinced Penn's trustees to erect a fireproof building to house the finds, and the museum, designed by the firms Cope and Stewardson, Frank Miles Day, and Wilson Eyre, now holds more than 1.3 million artifacts, including one of the world's most comprehensive collections of Middle and Near Eastern art.
the building
Built to hold Nippur's finds. The museum exists because of a single excavation: the 1887 Nippur expedition in what is now Iraq gave Penn a collection large enough that Provost William Pepper argued for a dedicated, fireproof building to house it.
Three firms, one museum. The building was designed jointly by Cope and Stewardson, Frank Miles Day, and Wilson Eyre, whose combined work produced the museum's distinctive rotunda and brickwork at the corner of 33rd and South Streets.
nearby
- Fisher Fine Arts Library
- Richards Medical Research Laboratories
- Hajoca Corporation Headquarters and Showroom
- Centennial National Bank
- Pennsylvania Railroad Office Building
- St. Anthony Hall House