Entry No. 35 — the Philadelphia file — filed under: outdoor
Government of the People
A 30-foot bronze inverted pyramid of writhing, intertwined human figures by Jacques Lipchitz - a family at the base spiraling up through a young couple to two figures hoisting Philadelphia's banner. Philadelphia's mayor once compared the artist's approved plaster model to "a load of dumped plaster" and stalled funding; Lipchitz died in 1973 without ever seeing it cast.
The story
If you walk across the Municipal Services Building Plaza at Broad and JFK, you'll run right into 30 feet of bronze that looks, at first glance, like a chaotic pile of limbs. Look closer and you'll trace the intended hierarchy: Jacques Lipchitz designed an inverted pyramid where a family unit at the base spirals upward into a young couple, topping out with two figures hoisting the official flag of Philadelphia.
Commissioned in 1967 as an ambitious piece of civic public art, the project immediately collided with municipal hostility. Philadelphia's mayor famously took one look at Lipchitz’s approved plaster working model and dismissed it as looking like "a load of dumped plaster," stalling city funding for the project. Lipchitz fought through the political mudslinging for years, but he died in 1973 without ever seeing the final piece cast in bronze.
The 30-foot sculpture was finally finished and dedicated on the plaza in 1976. Today, it stands as a permanent fixture right outside the city bureaucracy's front door—a monument to official resistance, abstract modernism, and stubborn survival.
What it's like
Because the sculpture stands in an open-air public plaza across from City Hall, there are no tickets, hours, or gates. You can walk right up to the base and circle the perimeter to trace where the spiraling family figures give way to the couple at the top. The surrounding concrete plaza is busy with downtown foot traffic during the workday, but quiet late in the evening when streetlights highlight the dark, heavy contours of the bronze.
The move: Walk past it on the way to a City Hall-area dinner and try to trace where the base family becomes the young couple becomes the triumphant top figures, then argue over whether it reads as democracy or nightmare.
- 📍 Center City (Municipal Services Building Plaza)
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Municipal Services Building Plaza, Broad St & John F. Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Blind Barber — Walk three blocks south to duck through the back door of a working barbershop for a drink after dissecting the plaza art.
- Herbiary — Head three blocks east into Reading Terminal Market to browse bulk herbs, soaps, and teas.
- Elbow Lane at Harp & Crown — Walk south down Broad Street to find a hidden two-lane vintage bowling alley buried beneath a cocktail bar.
Good to know
Where is the sculpture located?
It stands on the Municipal Services Building Plaza at the intersection of Broad Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Center City Philadelphia.
Is there an admission fee or opening hours?
No. It is an outdoor public sculpture, free to view 24 hours a day.
Who made Government of the People?
Modernist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz was commissioned by the city in 1967 to create the piece.
Why was the sculpture delayed?
Philadelphia's mayor disliked the design, comparing Lipchitz's working plaster model to "a load of dumped plaster" and stalling municipal funding until after the artist died in 1973.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · associationforpublicart.org · guggenheim-bilbao.eus
last checked: 2026-07-19