We offer a variety of services to serve the needs of visitors.
If you have questions about an accessible program, special assistance offers or the contents of this webpage, please contact us at AccessProg@philamuseum.org.
If you have questions about your upcoming visit, please email us at VisitorServices@philamuseum.org.
Use our color-coded map to help find your way through the main building.
Enjoy free Wi-Fi in the main building, the Perelman Building, and the Rodin Museum.
Personal attendants of visitors with disabilities are admitted free of charge (limited to one attendant per visitor).
Service dogs are welcome.
For large-print materials, email us three weeks before your visit at AccessProg@philamuseum.org.
Our audio tour offers a deeper look at some of the museum’s greatest hits. It is free for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. Request it at any Visitor Services Desk, located near all entrances.
Accessible parking is available in our garage across from the main building. Spaces are limited. Drop-off is available by the ramps at the West Entrance and at the curb cut just before the North Entrance on either side of Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive.
Visit SEPTA’s website for information on bus service to the museum.
Our West and North Entrances, Café, and Store are barrier free.
Free adjustable-height canes with rubber tips are available inside each entrance, first-come, first-served.
Free wheelchairs are available inside each entrance, first-come, first-served.
Manual and electric wheelchairs are welcome in all areas of the museum. Nonmotorized mobility devices such as the Alinker and single-seat and knee scooters (manual and electric) are permitted as are walkers, crutches, canes, braces, and other similar manual devices.
To ensure the safety of visitors and artwork, other types of mobility devices—including tricycles, standing scooters, carts, hoverboards, and gyroscopic devices—are not permitted. If your mobility device is not permitted, we will provide a free manual wheelchair (first-come, first-served) and will store your electric or battery-operated device in a nonpublic area during your visit. We are unable to store devices with liquid fuel of any kind.
All floors are accessible by elevator. There is seating in almost every third gallery.
All restrooms are accessible and have baby-changing stations. All-gender restrooms are available near Stir restaurant (first floor), below the West Entrance (lower level), and near the North Entrance (ground floor).
There are accessible water fountains near the restaurant Stir (first floor) and near American Art gallery 209 (second floor).
Request a free Sign Language interpreter two weeks before your visit by emailing us at AccessProg@philamuseum.org.
Free FM assistive listening devices with neck loops are available. If you go on a gallery tour, ask your guide for one.
Printed transcripts of audio tours and other print materials are available.
All museum-produced videos presented in the galleries feature closed captioning.
The PMA for All app is designed to help families, especially those with children on the autism spectrum, prepare for a day at the museum. Available for free download on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
We strive to make our collection and exhibitions accessible to everyone through engaging guided tours and workshops, offered both at the museum and offsite. To participate in our specialized accessibility tours and programs, please register in advance by emailing AccessProg@philamuseum.org. COVID-19 restrictions on group size and program offerings may apply.
Specially trained museum guides lead a variety of tours to help individuals and groups with disabilities get the most from their visit. Visitors who learn best by handling materials can examine art reproductions before their tour. To arrange your tour, email us at AccessProg@philamuseum.org.
We can adapt tours to meet your needs and interests, and provide touchable and visual materials to bring artwork to life.
Sign Language tours of the collection and exhibitions are available.
Touch Tours
Experience selected works in our collection through touch while a museum guide provides a visual description. Two to three visitors per guide is ideal.
Touchable Interpretations of Paintings
Explore 3-D reproductions of masterpieces by Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hicks, and Jan van Eyck with your hands. Each interpretation consists of three parts:
Go on a one-hour guided tour of the galleries and then make art during a two-hour studio class. Projects are designed for a wide range of abilities. Experience is not required.
Fee: $10 per person; free for personal attendants (limited to one attendant per visitor)
Veterans Empowered Through Art (“V.E.T. Art”)
This initiative was created in collaboration with veterans from the Veterans Empowerment Center at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia.
This program includes a customized tour created by veterans and a “peer-to-peer” in-gallery discussion. Veteran peer guides share with visiting groups of veterans why they chose specific works of art, fostering a friendly dialogue. After the tour, visitors get an in-gallery art lesson with a teaching artist.
This workshop for veterans includes a tour of portraits and instruction on how to draw a self-portrait. At the end of the workshop, students receive their own sketchbook and art supplies. The workshop may also include creative writing, journaling, and an exhibition of the resulting artwork.
The series includes themed tours of works selected by veterans as well as figure-sketching sessions with a teaching artist. At the end of the series, students receive their own sketchbook and art supplies.
Accessible programs at the museum are supported by The Windmill Foundation. Programs for patients with Parkinson’s Disease are supported by The Parkinson Council through a gift from the Peggy and Ellis Wachs Family Foundation. Veterans Empowered Through Art (“V.E.T. Art”) is sponsored by CSX Transportation.
