Philadelphia is My Home

15
Jul

The City of Murals

Author: Momish, Category: Philly Tourist, Something to Do

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Did you know that Philadelphia is the city with the most murals in all of America? I kid you not! According to the Mural Arts Program website, we’ve got over 2,700 murals gracing our city building, bridges, walls and billboards.  Beat that New York!

Philadelphia is internationally recognized as The City of Murals (hence the title of this post; very witty of me I know).

Ok, so you might have already known all that, granted.  I mean, ya’ll live here and all.  But, did you know that you can actually take a guided tour and visit some of the well known murals throughout the city?  But wait, there’s more. Mural Arts also has an experiential tour, where you get to meet one of the muralist (a true word, I didn’t just make it up) and learn about the artistic process in making murals.  Bet you didn’t know that!

Well, even if you did, you can at least act surprised. 

I find the entire process amazing, having witnessed it first hand.  A very good friend of mine use to be a member of the Anti-Graffi Network, which is where the Mural Arts Program began.  I use to spend hours watching them map out the squares and then make it come to life.  I definitely have to take this tour one day to see if any of those murals are part of it.  I can take a certain level of pride in knowing I played a part in its existence with my moral support.  Or, should I say mural support? (ok, that was weak)

Visit the Mural Arts website for more information and details about all their tours, including their Murals and Meals one, which personally would be my favorite.  This is a great thing to do for people who visit from out of town but aren’t into all that fine arts stuff.  Hey, like 15 year olds from Britain!!!

I am on a roll here with the alternative Philly tours so watch out! You just never know what I might come up with next.