The second largest contribution made to date toward keeping Thomas Eakins' masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, in Philadelphia, has brought to $37 million the total amount raised in the unprecedented drive to secure the painting for the city.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and Director of excavations at the Giza Pyramids, Saqqara, and Bahariya Oasis, offers a special public talk, "The Riddle of the Pyramids and the Magic of King Tut," Thursday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m. in the Harrison Auditorium of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia.

Museum Joins Growing International "Darwin Day" Birthday Celebration Activities Leading Up to 200th Anniversary of the Evolution Theorist's Birth in 2009.

Contemporary artists employ a dazzling array of techniques and technologies to engage with and expand upon the centuries-old tradition of creating art on paper. This spring the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present a diverse selection of prints, drawings, and photographs created by artists from around the world dating from the mid-1980s to the present.

In Tibetan-Buddhist practice, worship takes place not only in magnificent temples, but also in the homes of lay practitioners-many of which include a sacred space reserved for daily rituals. In 2004, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired a spectacular wooden Tibetan altar made for a private home and adorned with intricately carved niches and lively painted decoration that highlights domestic themes.

Thomas Eakins' 1875 masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, goes on public view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in early March will hang at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It is on loan to the Museum from Thomas Jefferson University until it is sold later this month by the University to the Museum and the Academy, which have joined in an extraordinary ongoing fundraising effort.

In support of the fundraising efforts of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the board of trustees of Thomas Jefferson University is lending The Gross Clinic, Eakins' 1875 masterpiece, to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a special installation in advance of the conclusion of the sale on January 31.

The Fleisher Art Memorial is pleased to announce that Matthew J. Cassiere - better known as Matt The Knife-will bring his 'cutting edge of entertainment' to Philadelphia for a single outlandish performance at Fleisher on the night of Saturday, January 20th.

In spring 2007, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present a comprehensive, 50-year retrospective exhibition devoted to the art of Thomas Chimes. On view from February 27-May 6, 2007, Thomas Chimes: Adventures in 'Pataphysics will present approximately 100 paintings, metal box constructions, and works on paper created between 1959 and 2006, including many never previously exhibited.

Presented by Philadelphia Young Playwrights
As part of Philadelphia Young Playwrights' new Play Development Series, student playwrights from the Greater Philadelphia region have an unprecedented opportunity to develop their work with local professional and university theatres.

The Opera Company of Philadelphia is proud to announce the East Coast Premiere and co-production of a new, full-length opera, Cyrano. The opera, based on the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac and composed by David DiChiera with a libretto by Bernard Uzan, debuts in Philadelphia in February 2008 as a centerpiece of the Company's 2007-2008 Season.

Michigan Opera Theatre will present Cyrano, a world premiere opera by Company Founder and General Director, David DiChiera, and director/librettist Bernard Uzan, Oct. 13 - 28, 2007 at the Detroit Opera House. This three-act opera, DiChiera's first-ever major opera, is based on Edmond Rostand's celebrated stage drama of 1897, Cyrano de Bergerac, a romantic tragedy. Cyrano is a coproduction with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Florida Grand Opera.