The Mütter Museum and a Penn’s Landing attraction will be reopening soon with new rules
The Mütter Museum will require visitors to purchase tickets in advance online. Its eerily well-timed "Spit Spreads Death" exhibit is about the 1918 flu pandemic.
Two of Philadelphia’s most-visited small museums, the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Independence Seaport Museum, will reopen to the general public on July 18, following four months of coronavirus-induced shutdown.
The Mütter, on South 22d Street, will hold a limited reopening for College of Physicians fellows and museum members July 15 and 17, respectively, and then resume normal hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Capacity will be limited to 50 visitors, and all staff and visitors over the age of 2 will be required to wear a face mask (available for purchase). Social distancing will be monitored by museum staff. Tickets, on sale beginning July 14, must be purchased online and in advance. (See the museum’s website, muttermuseum.org, for details.)
Interactive elements of the museum’s semipermanent exhibition, “Spit Spreads Death,” which explores the 1918 flu pandemic, will be accessible online through visitors’ cell phones. All high-touch surface areas will be cleaned on an ongoing basis throughout the day.
» READ MORE: How to summer in Philly: Our 2020 summer guide
The Seaport Museum, located on Penn’s Landing, will hold a members preview July 15 before reopening to the public July 18. Thereafter, the museum and its National Historic Landmark ship Olympia will be operating on a weekend-only schedule, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
A spokeswoman said that schedule will be continuously reevaluated and an expansion is possible in the future.
As with the Mütter, visitor capacity will be limited to ensure appropriate social distancing. Masks will be required. Hand sanitizer will be available.
The museum is “highly encouraging” visitors to purchase tickets in advance on the museum website, phillyseaport.org.