By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology turns 125 today. The museum is opening its doors to the public, providing a rare glimpse behind the scenes.

With more than 600,000 objects and 51,000 images, the Penn Museum has an extensive collection of artifacts ranging from centuries old mummies excavated from Egypt to modern day interactive exhibits that showcase what it was like to explore Mayan cities.

“It’s a museum of exploration really.”

Director Julian Siggers says museum archaeologists have participated in more than 400 excavations worldwide.

“We have people excavating all over the world, in Egypt at the site of Zakara and Abidus. We have teams in Turkey, Greece, in France.”

To celebrate, the museum is hosting a free open house from 10 to 10 today, where the public can come in and speak with curators, conservationists and other staff about the collection. They’ll be lectures, flashlight tours and more.

For more info, go to http://www.penn.museum