Skip to content
OddWay home

Explore Museums

The Dowager Empress Crystal Ball

Philadelphia, PA

A massive rock-crystal sphere once owned by China's Dowager Empress Cixi sits inside the Penn Museum under heavy security. The ball was famously stolen in 1988 and later recovered, adding a bizarre crime story to an already unusual object that visitors can see with normal museum admission.

Filed under museums: small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.

Something wrong with this entry?

Source: Atlas Obscura

Directions