The bronze statue of Rocky Balboa, arms raised in triumph, now stands inside the Philadelphia Museum of Art — not on its famed steps, but at the heart of a latest exhibition that finally acknowledges what millions of visitors have long known: this fictional boxer has become a real-world monument.
Opening this weekend, “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments” places the 1982 bronze statue at the center of a sweeping exploration that spans over 2,000 years of boxing imagery, from ancient Greek sculptures to works by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The exhibition, curated by Paul Farber of Monument Lab, does not merely celebrate a movie prop — it examines how a fictional fighter from South Philadelphia became a global symbol of endurance, one that draws an estimated 4 million visitors annually to the museum’s steps, rivaling the nearby Liberty Bell in foot traffic.
For decades, the museum maintained an uneasy distance from the statue’s popularity. When the bronze figure was left on the steps after filming the Rocky movies, museum officials fought to have it removed. It was relocated to South Philadelphia before returning to the base of the steps in 2006, where it remained a beloved but unofficial fixture — tolerated, but never fully embraced as art.
The shift reflects a broader reckoning with how monuments are made and who they represent. Farber noted that even as the Rocky statue draws crowds comparable to the Statue of Liberty, it similarly highlights a gap in the city’s memorial landscape: the most celebrated Philadelphian in this context is a white, fictional boxer, while real-life Black boxing legends like Jack Johnson — the first Black world heavyweight champion — remain underrepresented in public space.
This tension is not new. In 2020, amid nationwide debates over monuments and memory, the museum began reexamining its relationship with the statue, spurred by growing public interest and the work of local activists questioning whose stories are etched in stone and whose are overlooked. The exhibition arrives as the Rocky franchise marks its 50th anniversary, offering a moment to reflect not just on the film’s cultural footprint, but on how stories of struggle become embedded in the urban landscape.
Visitors continue to run up the 72 steps, mimicking Rocky’s victory pose, a ritual that has become a rite of passage for fans worldwide. A French wrestling coach who brought his students to the site said the film’s lessons endure: “It’s important for the mind of sport and the mind of life.” A visitor from Poland said seeing the statue fulfilled a lifelong dream: “He was my hero when I was younger. Now I am so glad I could be in the same spot as him.”
Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone, now 79, has overseen the placement of a second cast of the statue at the top of the steps, where it will remain permanently after the exhibition ends in August. Engraved with his personal creed — “It’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward” — the statue at the summit serves as both tribute and invitation: to climb, to endure, to belong.
Why did the museum resist the Rocky statue for so long?
The museum initially resisted the statue given that it viewed it as a movie prop, not a work of art, and worried it would distract from the institution’s serious curatorial mission. Officials feared that embracing the statue’s popularity would undermine the museum’s authority as a cultural arbiter.
What does the exhibition say about who gets memorialized in public spaces?
The exhibition highlights a contradiction: while the fictional Rocky draws millions, real-life Black boxing champions like Jack Johnson are far less visible in Philadelphia’s public art, prompting questions about whose stories are valued in the city’s monument landscape.
