What to Know
- For more than five decades the Giant Heart has given children of all ages a chance to be like blood pumping through your body.
- The beloved Franklin Institute attraction is closing on May 6, 2024, for six months of renovations.
- The plan is to reopen the Giant Heart in November as part of a larger exhibit focused on the human body.
Kids and people nostalgic for their childhood days can take one last stroll this weekend through the Franklin Institute's Giant Heart before the beloved attraction closes for six months.
The massive replica heart with a distinctive smell that lets children of all ages act like blood pumping through the organ has stood in the Franklin Institute's Center City Philadelphia location for more than 50 years.
"Hear the sounds of an actual human heartbeat as you go through the chambers," the Franklin Institute says on its website.
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(This writer loves running with his kids through the "Oxygen Exchange" section.)
Luckily, the heart isn't going away, it's just taking a break for a procedure.
People will only have through this weekend to dash or stroll the Giant Heart in its current iteration before it closes for renovations on May 6, 2024.
The closure is part of the museum's bicentennial transformation, dubbed "200 Years of Science: TFI is Transforming."
"This gallery reopens in November, featuring the Giant Heart as the centerpiece of an all-new exhibit on the human body," the Franklin Institute said.
Another current exhibit -- the neighboring Electricity -- will also close Monday, but unlike the Giant Heart won't return. "This space will completely transform and be part of the expansive new human body exhibit," the museum said.
So, what will the beloved science museum look like after all these renovations are done?
"Six all-new exhibits and a two-story collections gallery will transform the museum, elevating immersion, imagination, and impact. It began with the award-winning Wondrous Space exhibit in 2023 and continues in 2024 with the opening of an expansive new exhibit on the human body and the unveiling of the Hamilton Collections Gallery," the museum wrote.
"These six innovative exhibits will be the core of the new Franklin Institute experience, further enriched by our planetarium, observatory, daily live science shows, and new collections gallery. They will provide our guests with unparalleled opportunities to engage with cutting-edge scientific discoveries across various topic areas, including space, the human body, computer science, the built environment, advanced machines and robotics, and earth systems."
In the meantime, get your blood pumping with this walkthrough of the Giant Heart (beating heart sound included) the Franklin Institute posted in 2020.
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