Related: | coastal grand movies |
Address: | 19 S 22nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA |
Phone: | +1 215-560-8564 |
Site: | muttermuseum.org |
Rating: | 4.5 |
Working: | 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM |
KI
Kimberly Falkowski
I was very excited to visit this museum, but did not have the greatest experience. As I entered the museum, I overheard the senior couple in front of me in line having an issue with paying for their tickets. The museum clerk asked the couple to swipe their card at least twice (it may have been more - depending on how long this was happening before I entered). The clerk said the machine wasnt working and even asked them to swipe on another card machine. The visitor luckily noticed the amount on the new screen was for full-price admission, and not their senior rate. Eventually the visitor signed the receipt and entered the museum. Next up - me. Two adult tickets at $18 each. $36. Im not a math whiz but I got that. So I ask for the tickets and am asked to enter my card for chip payment. The machine asked me to remove my card, and it said APPROVED. Then the clerk tells me it didnt go through and to try on the next machine. I was skeptical and said so, but she assured me several times it was canceled. So the transaction apparently goes through, I sign, and am given a receipt and continue my visit. Hours later I check my bank account. I have three transactions from the museum. One for $32, one for $36 and another for $6 I spent in the gift shop. $32? I am assuming the transaction did not get canceled as the clerk stated. When I noticed this, I asked my boyfriend (who was with me at the time). He said he thought it was fishy and noticed the clerk look at the receipt and throw it out from the first transaction. If the card was really denied or it didnt "go through", I have always had these receipts handed to me. Anyway, I called my bank and they are filing a dispute. I really hope this same thing did not happen to the couple in line ahead of me. If it did, I hope they notice and bring this to light. Honestly, $18 each is a large fee for a museum that made me sickened and depressed. Honestly, I expected medical curiosities but I agree with the reviewer before me that the curation of the collection is insensitive and seems to be intended to shock rather than educate. $18 each is worth it as my boyfriend really wanted to go, but finding out I was unfairly charge died $68 on this 1 hour visit makes me much more disappointed.
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Renee Allard
The exhibits in this museum are densely packed and do not change often, though there is a small area for temporary exhibits which often highlight medically inspired artwork. Student tickets are $12 and I would recommend 1-2 hours for this museum, depending on how interested you are in weird and anomalous medical artifacts and samples. The building itself is beautiful to visit with a grand marble staircase that leads to an upper floor where The College of Physicians of Philadelphia hold their meetings. The landing has a wonderful statue of Ascelpius, the father of medicine. The landing and stairs are roped off daily visitors but the building can be booked for private event rentals. Note: There is a phone-guided tour for some of the exhibits, but the majority of the displays do not have much detail. For example, on the bottom floor there is a display case with a hodge-podge collection of bones. I attended this museum with a medical student who had a grand time trying to piece together which bone belonged to which part of the body but otherwise there were no indicators to describe what you may be viewing. There is also a small medical garden on the right of the building that exhibits some medicinal plants that is a relaxing retreat after browsing through skulls and persevered babies. If you balk at the idea taking your child to see body parts in jars or weird hair samples, one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the curiosity of children. When visiting this museum, the parents who are forward thinking enough to bring their kids end up being the squeamish ones while the children are just curious and wondering "why?". It is a great place to start discussions with children about science, research, and the human body.
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elizabeth stein
The print on the labels of many of the specimens was so small and so light that it was impossible to read what many of these specimens were. Print on the labels on the specimens on the lower and the higher shelves should be even larger because they are out of normal reading range. Additionally, several areas of the exhibit were so poorly lit, that one could not really see much detail. Anyone who is myopic or of bi-focal age would miss at least half of the labels. This renders a large part of the museum less of a learning experience and more of an "ew." That being said, the parts of the museum that were adequately lit and labeled were very interesting and educational. The building is attractive and clean and the display cases, which are old, contribute to the historical atmosphere. At times, I think there were too many of the same thing. The wall of skulls seemed a bit of over-kill. The display of babies faces that were delivered in various positions might have been more meaningful if these positions were defined for the lay person. There were a lot of chunks of amorphous blobs of body parts whose labels were missing or unreadable. The wall of faces/heads of syphilitic sufferers really needs better labeling. Looking at the skeletons, diseased limbs, preserved fetuses on display, one cant help feeling empathy for the suffering these people and those who loved them must have experienced. Despite the poor labeling and lighting, this was a very moving experience and, with the above reservations, I would recommend the Mutter museum to others.
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Joey Essoe
Very very poorly labelled. Seriously. The labels resulted in more questions than they answered, even though my friend who went with me is medically educated, and I am scientifically educated. We ended up googling a lot about whats on the labels. Many things were unlabeled, which is very frustrating. Using my friends words, "it feels like we have wandered into someones butterfly collection without permission." There was also a general sense of disrespect to the donors of bodies, and to the dignity of human life in general. The body parts, dead people, etc arent the upsetting part of the visit, but how the museum treated those things. For example, there were two children (likely a newborn infant and a 6-12 months old), whose remains were dried and hollowed out, so that the network of blood vessels could be seen. This is important medical information to learn to and teach, great. The upsetting part is, they spread the remains info a crucifixion position, and drilled a hole into forehead of each the deceased, then hang them like some kind of voodoo-y kites with spot lighting. Maybe I had erroneous expectations going in. I was expecting a natural/medical history museum, instead I got a "freak show" or horror house type "museum." If I was expecting the latter, I might have been impressed with the meager labelling for the fact that there was any at all. But then again, the latter type of "museums" really isnt something I would choose to visit...
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Devlin Barth
This museum is really cool. This is a collection of medical oddities and cases with weird and interesting scientific cases of things like babies with two heads. If you were hoping for a REAL baby with two heads, sadly, they use wax figures to represent what it would look like, but the wax figures themselves are really detailed and do an amazing job of showing you what it really did look like. Some things are real like the skeletons there are definitely real. However, if youre expecting an all day trip, thats not gonna happen. After we went there we were expecting a 3 hour trip. We were in there for a little more than 1 hour. While the information itself is interesting there isnt much to see. If youre looking for a small something to kill time, this is for you. The museum itself does not have parking, rather you will be paying for a place nearby. The closest one charges $11.00 for about an hour (which is how long we stayed at the museum). Tickets range from 15-18 bucks unless you want to freak your kids out (tickets are free for children 5 and under). Overall, a good experience, but I wish it was much longer. Photography isnt allowed in the actual museum either, so if you plan on taking pictures of two headed babies, think again. You should definitely check this if you need time to kill, or if you want to scare your kids, thats fine too.