first-ever RockyFest last year<\/a>, on loan from Stallone himself.<\/p>\nRocky C is the most recent arrival to Philly and, richly, is currently the most permanent. It was unveiled at Philadelphia International Airport in late November and will remain a permanent fixture in Terminal A-West, between Gates A15 and 16. That\u2019s all you need to know about Statue C for this point.<\/p>\n
The Rocky shuffle<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s proposal was to return the original, Statue A, to Stallone\u2019s estate and eventually move Statue B closer to the front door of the Art Museum, \u201ca comfortable distance back from the steps.\u201d All of this was supposed to cost the city $150,000.<\/p>\n
But a twist came during the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to the strong and heartfelt feedback from the public, Mr. Stallone has graciously decided that we will no longer move forward with the proposed statue swap,\u201d Valerie Gay, Creative Philadelphia\u2019s chief cultural officer, revealed at Wednesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cThis outcome reflects our shared commitment to listening deeply to the community and doing what is best for both the art and the people who cherish it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So now the proposal\u2019s plan will be to bring Statue A into the museum for a 2026 exhibition and keep Statue B in front of the museum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The museum has had a love\/hate relationship with the very concept of embracing the Rocky statue over the decades. It\u2019s currently on the love side, and will feature Statue A in its \u201cRising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments\u201d exhibition, running from April 25 to Aug. 2. The exhibition coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first Rocky movie, and gives us some idea of when the first parts of the statue-switching needs to be done by.<\/p>\n
When the exhibition is done, Statue B goes back to Stallone and Statue A (the original) moves to its final place at the top of the stairs. This opens a space at the bottom of the steps, that will be filled by another city-owned statue \u2014 probably un-Rocky related (maybe the statue of non-fictional, and Philly \u2018s own, heavyweight champion \u201cSmokin’\u201d Joe Frazier , now residing outside Stateside Live!) \u2014\u00a0according to Creative Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
When will we know?<\/p>\n
The final details still need to be approved by the Philadelphia Art Commission, which next meets Jan. 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also see this as an opportunity to lean into the evolving conversation about what is considered \u2018art,\u2019 and what deserves a place in our most treasured civic spaces,\u201d the proposal stated. \u201cThe Rocky statue is a clear example of this evolution. Its artistic significance has not been shaped by institutions, but by the millions of people who engage with it year after year. By formalizing its placement at the top of the steps, we are seeking to honor that public connection, strengthen this iconic site, and enhance the experience for residents and visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rocky statues are set to move soon. Yes, statues, plural. The iconic \u2014 and apparently divisive \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":443018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1322,204199,1448,2830,1311,149245,122441,29181,200602,199170,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-443017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-monument-lab","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-art-museum","15":"tag-philadelphia-museum-of-art","16":"tag-rocky","17":"tag-rocky-statue","18":"tag-rocky-steps","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115708488052699481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}