Magic Gardens

Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG) is a nonprofit art environment and gallery space located on South Street, best known for its colourful mosaic installation.

The Magic Gardens spans three city lots and includes indoor galleries and a large outdoor labyrinth. It was created in 1994, when Philadelphia-based artist Isaiah Zagar began transforming a vacant lot next to a building he owned on South Street into what would become his most ambitious and immersive mosaic installation. Inspired by Mexican folk art, outsider art, and his world travels, Zagar sought to transform vacant and rundown spaces into vibrant public art and gradually filled the lot with mosaics, found objects, and sculptures. After years of work and a legal battle to prevent the site from being sold and demolished, Zagar and the community successfully preserved it, and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens officially opened to the public as a nonprofit museum and art environment in 2004.

Today, it remains both a beloved cultural landmark and a testament to how art can revitalise communities and redefine public space. It includes an outdoor sculpture garden filled with towering mosaic walls, arches, tunnels, and hidden details, as well as indoor galleries with rotating exhibitions featuring local and international artists, plus displays that tell the story of Zagar’s life and creative journey.

Nearby Attractions

See all attractions in Philadelphia
Independence Hall
Independence Hall is a historic building in Philadelphia where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were debated and adopted.
St Peter's Episcopal Church
Throughout the Continental Congress, several of the founding fathers attended church at St Peter's, which was founded in 1761.
Philadelphia Old City Hall
The Old City Hall is a historic building that served as the first home of the United States Supreme Court and played a key role in the nation's formative years.
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an enduring symbol of American freedom and independence, popularised by abolitionists in the 1830s & a must-see when visiting Philadelphia.
Italian Market
Philadelphia’s Italian Market, which runs along approximately ten city blocks of Ninth Street in South Philadelphia, is one of the oldest and largest open-air markets in America.
Society Hill
Lined with cobblestone streets, the Society Hill neighborhood feels like stepping into a time capsule of the Revolutionary War era.

Related Tours

The Best of Philadelphia: Private Half-Day Driving Tour

Enjoy a private tour of Philadelphia’s highlights, where you will explore the best of the city of Brotherly Love with your professional guide by car, making several stops along the way to make the most of your visit to one of the oldest cities in America.

On your private driving tour, you will:

  • Enjoy hotel pick-up and drop-off by your private driver-guide and embark on a private tour tailored to your interests;
  • Explore the historic district, where the founders crafted many of the nation’s founding documents;
  • Walk past Independence hall, the Birthplace of democracy where the Declaration of Independence was signed;
  • See the Liberty Bell, a true symbol of America's freedom;
  • Learn about Betsy Ross - her inspiration for making the first US flag and the events which shaped her life;
  • Visit the famous ‘LOVE’ statue, and snap the perfect photo to remember your time in the city of brotherly love;
  • Discover the numerous sites along Benjamin Franklin Parkway - including Rodin’s ‘The Thinker sculpture, Fairmount Water Works, and the Free Library of Philadelphia;
  • See the Philadelphia Museum Of Art, climb the Rocky Steps and see the famous Rocky Statue;
  • Enjoy tickets to Philadelphia’s Magic Garden, with two levels of indoor and outdoor sculpture gardens.


Your private tour begins with an easy hotel pick-up in a private vehicle, for those staying in centrally located Philadelphia hotels.

Enjoy an easy drop-off at the first site, where your guide will take you on a poignant journey around the historic sites of the American Revolution, where the seeds of independence were taking root long before a musket shot was fired.

As you walk around Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross’s homes, along with the homes of numerous other founders, your guide will colour in the missing details of life in Philadelphia during the period: about the political climate of the time, about the tension and excitement around the city.

You will have the opportunity to see several of the city’s other highlights and recognizable sites, like the LOVE statue, Reading Terminal Market, Rodin’s "The Thinker" and numerous other public sculptures outside the Rodin Museum.

You will also visit Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens with tickets included, which is an immersive mixed-media art environment that is completely covered with mosaics. The creator, Isaiah Zagar, used handmade tiles, bottles, bicycle wheels, mirrors, and international folk art to chronicle his life and influences.

At the end of your tour, your guide will take you back to your hotel or drop you off somewhere central in the city.
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