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MORE PHOTOS Digital Photo | Kodak DX3500 |  © 2001 Photo by S. Fox. Rodin Museum, Philadelphia 22nd Street & Ben Franklin Parkway | Philadelphia, PA | 215.763.8100 The Rodin Museum on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia houses over 120 of the French sculptor's works including some of his most famous; The Burghers of Calais, commissioned by the city council of Calais in 1885, and The Gates of Hell commissioned by the French State in 1880 which was to be the doors for the Museum of Decorative Arts. The massive unfinished work, confronts you as you enter the Philadelphia museum. The massive 18 x 12 ft. doors, covered with sculpture are reminiscient of the illustrations of Dante's inferno, and is more p«oserful for the fact that is it unfinished. It was cast in bronze after Rodin's death in 1917. The Philadelphia museum's collection was assembled by Jules E. Mastbaum, who made his fortune from movie theaters in Philadelphia. He started collecting in 1923 and purchased bronzes, plaster studies, drawings, prints, letters and books. Mastbaum died in 1926, but in just four years had assembled the greatest collection of Rodin's works outside of Paris. He commissioned Paul Cret and Jacques Greber, two French neoclassical architects working in Philadelphia, to build the museum which was completed and opened in 1929. The building, its gardens and archways are both beautiful and peaceful and the interior spaces are elegant stages for Rodin's works. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays and holidays. (Hours subject to change.) On the Web: Rodin Museum (Philadelphia) Rodin Museum (France- in English) BACK TO PHOTO OP GALLERY ©   Unica Online