Rocky Statue Moves Inside as Museum Reframes Its Legend

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is bringing the Rocky Balboa statue indoors for a new exhibition, Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, framing the fictional hero within a long arc of boxing imagery and Philadelphia identity. After decades of tension, the museum embraces the statue as part of public art and cultural history; it will move inside to a permanent high-spot after the show closes, while a Joe Frazier statue will replace it on the steps and the outside statue remains on loan from Stallone.