Philadelphia recently celebrated the opening of its newest immersive experience venue, the Ministry of Awe, in Old City.
The unique new spot is housed inside the former Manufacturer’s National Bank, which had stood vacant since 1985.
After more than four decades, the property has finally reopened in a new, reimagined way.
“Ministry of Awe is a bank. It’s a bank with no money,” said Meg Saligman, the creative visionary artist, muralist, and ministrix behind the Ministry of Awe. “It’s also a bank inside a historic bank.”
The former bank was designed by the renowned Victorian architect Frank Furness in 1870.
Now, the space is a six-story, 8,500-square-foot structure that will aim to captivate the minds of Philadelphians of all walks of life.
Behind Saligman is a collection of more than 100 other Philadelphia-based artists, performers, engineers, designers, creatives, and makers who helped make the new immersive experience what it is.
Once you step into the Ministry of Awe, you’ll be taken into an immersive world of art, performance, mystery, and much more.
“Inside MOA Bank, each act of wander yields infinite returns,” said Saligman during a media preview event before the official opening.
Among the interesting things you’ll see as you wander throughout the six-story building include a giant nose and eyeball.
However, as you travel through the several floors, you can experience much more.
Keeping true to its past as a bank, you’ll witness labels and rooms with signs that read “Asset Liquification,” “Branch Management,” “Estate Holdings,” “Loan Forgiveness,” and more related to the themes of banking, currency, and financial transactions.
Beyond that, there are various installations and vaults. There are teller stations, a forgery and counterfeiting space, a typewriter, a number of robotic and kinetic objects, and so much more.
“If you’ve been to a museum, a theater, a haunted house, a dream maybe — we are not quite any of those things,” Saligman said.
Those words couldn’t be more true.
Ministry of Awe is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
General admission tickets are $29.99, while tickets for children between the ages of 3 and 13 are $19.99. Seniors and military veterans can purchase tickets for $24.99, while children under the age of 3 are free to enter.
Tickets can be purchased at moaphilly.org.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA.Today in March 2026.
