Construction began on the installation of the Rocky statue atop the Art Museum steps
City crews officially began the installation of the Rocky statue, which is slated to be completed over the next two weeks and cost roughly $150,000 to install.
Rocky Balboa will start his new era at the top of the Art Museum steps Friday.
City crews officially began the installation of the eight-foot-six-inch Rocky statue, which is slated to be completed over the next two weeks and cost roughly $150,000 to install, according to Creative Philadelphia, the city arts office behind the proposal. The statue should be fully installed by the end of September.
Access to the fictional Philly boxer will be closed off to the public for the duration of the work. However, the bronze Italian Stallion will still be visible from behind barricades — tourists just won’t be able to touch him.
The statue, commissioned by Sylvester Stallone for Rocky III, in which it also appeared, depicts the famous moment in the first Rocky where Stallone thrusts his fists in the air as he takes in the city skyline after a rigorous training montage. An estimated 4 million tourists visit the statue each year to reenact the moment that inspired fans globally.
Since 2006, the statue has sat at the bottom of the Art Museum steps. Before that, Rocky moved between the museum and the South Philly stadium complex at least six different times since the statue was originally revealed in 1981.
Before the installation began Friday, the original statue had been housed inside the Art Museum for the exhibit “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments” since March. The statue that welcomed fans throughout the summer and cursed World Cup teams whose fans put merch on it is from Stallone’s private collection and will be returned.
The original statue will be placed on a pedestal around 14 feet back from the edge of the top step, next to where Rocky shoe prints are embedded into the walkway. At the bottom of the steps, where the bronze Balboa had been since 2006, now sits a statue of real-life Philly boxing legend “Smokin’” Joe Frazier.
Placing Rocky at the top of the steps is contentious, though. In an Inquirer survey last fall, 46% of respondents said there shouldn’t be a Rocky statue at the top of the steps, but rather it should stay at the bottom where it had been for more than a decade. One out of five respondents said the city shouldn’t have a Rocky statue at all. Even when the statue was revealed more than 40 years ago, some local officials called it “unnecessarily strident.”
Still, that doesn’t stop the millions of people who visit the Art Museum steps just for a glimpse of the bronze boxer. Soon, they’ll be doing it again at the same spot as the movie scene.
Staff writer Nick Vadala contributed to this article.
