Location Map

Artist: Waldemar Raemisch
Dedicated: 1955
Location: Youth Study Center, 20th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Bronze, on concrete bases
Maximum height 11'4" (bases 3'); width of each group approximately 20'; depth 5'

The Great Mother and The Great Doctor are located at the Youth Study Center at 20th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The statues were created by Waldemar Raemisch who also sculpted The Preacher for the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial Sculpture Garden. It was initiated by the City of Philadelphia, Department of Public Property and seeks to epitomize the spirit of children and their need for nurturing and care.

Raemisch, a refugee from Nazi Germany, taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Great Mother and The Great Doctor were his last works. Both statues form two groups and each have a seated, central figure surrounded by children and adults. The Mother and a Doctor both represent society's caregivers, comforters, healers and guiders: all positive models for children.