PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Museum of Art is opening to the public for the time since coronavirus shutdowns began, but there are some new rules visitors must follow.
Music would typically be blaring down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for Labor Day weekend's Made in America festival — but instead it's art lovers heading for the nearly 200 galleries that haven't had spectators in months.
Masks are required, as well as temperature checks. Visitors must also enter at the newly renovated north entrance off Kelly Drive, and are encouraged to purchase timed tickets online ahead of time.
Jessica Sharpe, director of visitor operations and membership at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, told NBC 10 there's plenty of room to space out.
"Come and be in a place that they love and experience great art and be distant from each other. We are very lucky that we have a lot of square footage."
But still, certain galleries can only have a couple people in them at a time.
"A lot (of) great galleries inside that allow people to move around and spread themselves out," said Sharpe. "There are two giant floors of art."
Sue Snyder, whose daughter just moved to Philadelphia, told KYW Newsradio that wasn't an issue.
"We believe in wearing a mask," she said, "and I think they are limiting the number of people in there so we are comfortable with that."
"I live in Philly but I've never actually been to the Art Museum," said her daughter Julie, "and then they're visiting for the holiday weekend and since this is the first weekend it's reopened we figured we'll finally get it in."
Regan Carstensen and Alex Parke are visiting from out of town.
"We're in Philadelphia from Minneapolis. He's celebrating his 40th birthday," said Carstensen, "So we just needed to get away in COVID times that's a little bit difficult but thankfully Philadelphia was one of the places Minnesotans could travel to."
Parke said they could do without the typical beach trip.
"We like the cities. Everywhere we traveled has been cities. I'm from London so I like cities, the parks, the culture of it all."
For Daniel Jansen, Labor Day weekend wasn't about the Jersey Shore either.
"We were just looking for another city to get to, and Philadelphia's pretty close. Most stuff is closed in D.C." said Jansen, who came from Baltimore with his friends, including David Roesner, who was happy when he saw the reopening date.
"We were looking up things to do, and saw the museum was reopening. I haven't been in a couple years, and (was) excited to take these guys through," said Roesner.
The current exhibit Fault Lines, featuring artists from South Asia, has been around since mid-March but thanks to the shutdown, it'll stick around until October 25.
The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
