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Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor is America’s most famous and historically significant gateway and one of the country’s most inspiring museums. It pays homage to the undying courage of his more than 12 million immigrants who passed through this processing station after weeks of journeys in difficult conditions between 1892 and his 1924. More than 100 million living Americans are the descendants of these newcomers who hope to realize the American dream for themselves and their children. The Ellis Island National Immigration Museum is a poignant tribute to their experience. In the restored main building of the former immigrant complex, you’ll find stories from historians, immigrants themselves, and other sources, bringing to life a fascinating collection of personal belongings, official documents, photographs, and film footage. . Visitors interested in tracking ancestral details have access to searchable historical records. Ellis Island has appeared in many movies, including The Godfather.Part II and part of Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The public can only access it by ferry. Buy your tickets online in advance to avoid long lines. History Ellis Island, named after one of its previous owners, Samuel Ellis, was formerly known as Little Oyster Island, although the island’s original Mohegan name was “Kioshk”. , means “Seagull Island”. Ellis Island was used by the military for much of his 19th century and was home to artillery batteries and naval ammunition depots. Prior to 1890, individual states controlled immigration to the United States, but around this time political instability, economic hardship, and increasing religious persecution in Europe led to one of the largest mass immigration events in human history. has occurred. The United States government decided to build a new immigration office on Ellis Island and opened its doors on January 1, 1892. A girl from Ireland named Annie Moore was the first immigrant processed there, accompanied by her two younger brothers. Over the next 62 years, more than 12 million immigrants came to the United States via Ellis Island. First and second class passengers arriving on steamships in New York Harbor were considered “wealthy” and therefore were not required to undergo the inspection process, but third or steering passengers, or for legal or health reasons. Passengers with problems were subject to inspection at Ellis Island and sent there for processing. The inspection took place in the registry office (today’s Great Hall) and lasted several hours. In addition to judicial control with the help of interpreters, doctors examined each person for physical illnesses and health problems. She was banned only 2% of the time. Reasons for refusal included concerns about infectious diseases and being unable to find legal employment. In 1897, a fire on Ellis Island destroyed the immigration office, destroying federal and state immigration records dating back to 1855. While the ship’s manifest is being burned, the customs list is kept with the US Customs Office and is available for inspection. After that, in 1900, a new refractory factory was established and started operation. Beginning in the early 1920s, Ellis Island’s use declined as regulations were tightened to limit the number of people entering the United States. U.S. embassies were set up around the world, and paperwork and medical examinations took place there. Until 1922, only war refugees, refugees in need of assistance, and those with paperwork problems were brought to Ellis Island for the inspection process. Since then, it has been used for various purposes, including as a concentration camp for enemy merchants during World War II, until it was officially closed in 1954. Things to see on Ellis Island The Ellis Island National Immigration Museum is located in the main building and includes exhibits, a theater, gift shop, cafe, and visitor facilities. Upon arrival, stop by the museum lobby to pick up your complimentary audio guide. An audio guide provides detailed information about the exhibits and is available in a children’s version. Check the information desk for a schedule of guided tours, programs and documentary films. The museum has three floors of exhibits documenting the immigrant experience on Ellis Island and the general history of immigration to the United States. If you’re short on time, head upstairs for two of the most intriguing exhibits. The first, Through America’s Gate, explores the step-by-step process newcomers face within a beautiful domed registry office. This includes marking suspected illnesses with chalk, a wince eye test and 29 questions. Second, the peak year of immigration:From 1880 to 1924, we examine the motivations behind immigrant travel and the challenges they faced as they embarked on their new lives in America. For a story of the building’s rise, fall, and revival, visit the Landmark Restoration exhibit on the third floor. His tableaux of shattered desks, chairs and other abandoned possessions are strangely haunting. If you don’t want to carry around an audio guide, you can always pick up one of the phones in each exhibit area to hear moving accounts of real people who passed through Ellis Island in the 1980s. Another option is a free 35-minute guided tour of the park by one of his rangers or volunteers. For the full experience, watch the 35-minute film Island of Hope, Island of Tears running all day at one of the two cinemas. And if you have ancestors who traveled via Ellis Island, you can browse the ship’s manifest and immigration records at the American Family Immigration History Center on the first floor and print and view them for a fee. The rest of Ellis Island’s buildings (1930s Ferry Building, hospital, morgue, infectious disease ward, offices, residences and maintenance facilities) can only be visited on guided tours that must be booked in advance. Tickets and other practical things Statue Cruises is the only ferry company authorized to provide tickets and transportation to Ellis Island. Ferry tickets can be purchased online here or by calling 1-877-LADY-TIX. Tickets can also be purchased at the Statue Cruises ticket office in Castle Clinton, Battery Park, New York City, or at the ferry departure point in Liberty

Central Park

One of the world’s most famous green spaces, Central Park features 843 acres of rolling lawns, rock strewn ledges, elm-lined walkways, manicured European-style gardens, lakes and reservoirs. Quaint waterfront restaurants, not to mention amphitheaters and monuments to John Lennon, the famous statue from Alice in Wonderland. Highlights include 15 acres of sheep pasture where thousands of people lounge and play on warm days. Central Park Zoo; and trails like Rumble Forest, popular with bird watchers. Weather permitting, the Great Lawn hosts free outdoor concerts and top drama at the annual Shakespeare in the Park production held each summer at the outdoor Delacorte Theater. Other recommended stops include Shakespeare Gardens on the west side between 79th and he 80th Streets, with lush vegetation and stunning skyline views. The history of Central Park Like the city’s subway system, the considerable and majestic Central Park, a rectangle of open area withinside the center of Manhattan, is a incredible magnificence leveler – precisely because it become envisioned. Created withinside the 1860s and ’70s via way of means of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux at the marshy northern edge of the city, the vast park become designed as a amusement area for all New Yorkers irrespective of color, magnificence or creed. Central Park is in reality best the 5th biggest park in New York City, trailing at the back of different neighborhood greenspaces like Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt parks withinside the Bronx, the Greenbelt on Staten Island, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. But over 800 acres is not anything to sneeze at in tony, dense higher Manhattan – even withinside the mid-nineteenth century while New York City become only a fraction of its gift size, a lot of the land needed to be received via way of means of eminent domain. Ironically, what is now Central Park was occupied by settlements like Seneca Village. It is home to immigrants and members of the free black community that the park was supposed to benefit from. Olmsted and Vaux were made from this raw bog material where the wealthy could see and be seen in horse-drawn carriages and fine clothing, and later the middle and lower classes would gather away from the pubs and use the gardens. Collect Graveyards instead of . Olmsted found inspiration during a trip to Birkenhead Park near Liverpool, England’s first taxpayer-funded public park. He later recounted it in his travel memoir, Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England. The trick, of course, is to recreate the natural American landscape where pig manure and urban debris once stood. As a result, over the years, huge sums of money, thousands of workers, and slow progress during the Civil War have resulted in a city that differs from its neighbors in both its democratic vision and its pastoral sprawl. A vast green space was born.It was also a triumph of technology. Determined to separate pedestrian and road traffic, Olmsted and Voe (who created Prospect his park in Brooklyn) cleverly designed a crossroad under the flyover to do so. It is also an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the city.Lush lawns, cool forests, flower-filled gardens, glass-like waters, and winding wooded paths provide the serene nature that New Yorkers crave. The legacy of Central Park The fulfillment of Olmsted’s vision – and his first principal project – went directly to release his career (and have an impact on generations of panorama architecture) with commissions from Buffalo to San Francisco, from the manicured grounds of the Biltmore Estate to the trailing parks of Atlanta. It’s no surprise it is one of the maximum famous movie places in cinematic history, cropping up now no longer simply as a history however a person in films like Hair, When Harry Met Sally, Enchanted and The Muppets Take Manhattan. It’s additionally no surprise that Central Park speedy have become a nexus of New York architecture, fringed via way of means of homes that each advantage from proximity to the city’s returned backyard and attempt to stay as much as its larger-than-existence legacy. From penthouse residences of the Dakota Building in which Lauren Bacall, John Lennon and different luminaries lived to current additions just like the tall, thin Central Park Tower that climbs to 1,550 toes over its namesake, the skyline rimming Olmsted’s introduction is sort of as iconic as downtown treasures just like the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, or the Brooklyn Bridge. Activities in Central Park Today, this “public park” is one of New York’s most popular attractions, attracting thousands of New Yorkers year-round. Parts of the park are bustling with joggers, rollerbladers, musicians and tourists on warm weekends, but are quiet on weekday afternoons, especially in lesser-visited spots on the 72+.) In the summer, try your hand at fishing, camping and other activities in Central Park, feel like a character in countless movies, straddle Central Park Lake and visit Cherry Hill and Rumble without ever leaving Manhattan. You can head to the Victorian Bow Bridge that connects the Nearby, the ornate Bethesda Fountains line the lake. The Rove Boathouse is a popular attraction, where you can rent a rowboat and enjoy lunch. Speaking of food, Central Park’s designers may have deliberately left few buildings in the landscape, but Tavern on the Green is a New York staple for good reason. Originally designed by Vaux himself in 1870 as a real sheep barn, the building was converted into a restaurant in 1934 by Robert Moses and eventually became an already competitive and legendary city food pioneer in his scene. got a reputation. As former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl put it before smartphones in the 1990s: After closing for several years in 2009, Tavern on the Green he reopened in 2014. Even in winter, people flock to the parks, where snowstorms call for cross-country skiing, sledding, or strolling through a white wonderland, and every New Year’s Eve for a midnight jog. Ice skating, one of Central Park’s two ice

Empire State Building

The Chrysler Building may be more beautiful and the One World Trade Center taller, but the Empire State Building is still the queen bee of New York’s skyline. NYC’s biggest star of all time has enjoyed close-ups in nearly 100 films and countless skyline snaps of her. Along the way, New York is as quintessential as pastrami, rye and pickles. Scaled by King Kong, gathered lovers in movies like Sleepless in Seattle, and survived the 1945 plane crash. Just 90 years after construction began, it soon became an icon in the burgeoning city, lit in honor of frontline workers as the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the district. It’s an unmistakable destination for Manhattan residents and visitors from all over the world, and for many it’s synonymous with the Big Apple itself. History of the Empire State Building The stats are amazing: 10 million bricks, 60,000 tons of steel, 6,400 windows, and 328,000 square feet of marble. Construction on the original site of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel took a record 410 days, required 7 million hours of work, and cost him just $41 million. That may sound like a lot, but it was well below our $50 million budget (as well as the increase during the Great Depression). The Empire State Building was designed by the prolific architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. Legend has it that the idea for the skyscraper began with a meeting between William Lamb and construction co-founder John Jacob his Raskob, where Raskob dropped his pencil. A 102-story skyscraper would not have been possible with electric elevator technology. Can you imagine having to climb all the stairs? Prefabricated I-beams, supports, and other Pittsburgh-made components were also critical to ensuring quality and speed of construction. Steelworkers assembled the parts on site. Sometimes sky-high, it’s a place captured in iconic photographs of riveting machines on high iron. Most of the workers were Mohawks who came to New York from the Kanawake Reservation near Montreal to do business. His affinity for heights earned him the nickname “Skywalker”, a tradition that continues to this day. The Art Deco limestone tower officially opened on May 1, 1931. Shortly after the Great Depression ended a heated race to build ever taller skyscrapers (including Empire State’s early rival Chrysler Building) along with Empire State’s Supremacy Building. Generations later, Deborah Kerr’s words to Cary Grant about “The Unforgettable Affair” still ring true.“It’s the closest thing to heaven we have in New York.” How tall is the Empire State Building? The Empire State Building is 1454 feet tall from top to bottom. It’s no longer the tallest building in the New York skyline, but the view remains stunning. Unless you’re Anne Darrow (the unfortunate woman captured by King Kong), you’re bound to feel radiant on your way to the top of the Empire State Building. There are two observation decks. The outdoor deck on the 86th floor offers an outdoor experience with telescopes (previously coin-operated, now free) to see the metropolis in action up close. Further up, the enclosed 102nd floor at the top of the tower is his second tallest observatory in New York City, second only to the One World Trade Center observatory. Not to mention, the views of his five boroughs of the city (and his four neighboring states, weather permitting) through the floor-to-ceiling windows are simply spectacular. On clear days you can see up to 80 miles. The views from both decks are especially spectacular at sunset when the city puts on its night robes in the afterglow. Plan Your Visit As one of NYC’s most popular attractions, lines can be long, but a new entrance redesign has eased some of the bottlenecks. Arrive early (e.g. 8am) or late to avoid delays. Tickets can also be purchased in advance online ($2 value). The first stop is the story of his second-floor Icon Museum, completely redesigned in 2019, featuring multimedia exhibits related to the building’s history and its place in the U.S. cultural imagination. A path through the displays leads to the Observatory elevator. As you can imagine, the views from both decks are especially spectacular at sunset. To experience a little Arthur-themed magic, head to the 86th floor Thursday through Saturday from 10pm to 1am. A sea of ​​twinkling lights with a live saxophone soundtrack (please inquire). Since 1976, the building’s top 30 floors have been illuminated in a variety of colors that reflect the colors of the season, holidays, or local sports teams and charities. Famous combinations include orange, white and green for St. Patrick’s Day. Hanukkah blue and white. Red, white and green for Christmas. Rainbow colors for Gay Pride weekend in June. See the website for a complete overview of color schemes and schedules. The tour app is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. Getting There The Empire State Building is accessible by various public transportation routes. Take the 6 subway to 33rd Street or the B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, or W train to 34th Street Herald Square. You can also take the M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M34, or M55 bus routes to the Empire State. Did you know? A locked, unmarked door on the 102nd floor observatory leads to his one of New York’s most outrageous sky projects.A narrow terrace for docking the Zeppelin. At the forefront of the dream was former New York Governor Alfred E. Smith. He rose from an unsuccessful presidential candidate to head the Empire State Building project in 1928. When architect William Van Allen unveiled the secret tower of the rival Chrysler Building, Smith announced that he would install an even taller mooring mast for a transatlantic airship on top of the Empire State Building. I raised my expectations. The plan looked good on paper, but there were two (big) oversights. The airship would have to be anchored at both ends (not just the nose, as planned), and passengers (traveled by Zeppelin gondolas) would not be allowed to exit the vehicle through

One World Observatory

Spanning three floors at the top of the Western Hemisphere’s tallest building, One World Observatory offers breathtaking panoramic views of Manhattan’s crystal clear Skyscraper Gardens. On a clear day, all five boroughs and parts of the surrounding states, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty can be seen as tiny as a child’s toy from the top of One World Trade Center. The breathtaking views of New York are only revealed after the screens suddenly go off in the introductory video, revealing the view through the giant windows. Seeing the city from above is a great way to get a feel for how everything fits together and plan the rest of your New York sightseeing. The place has a strong resonance. The footprints of the original World Trade Center Tower, now preserved as the 9/11 Memorial Museum, can be seen in the shadow of the current One World Trade Center, which stands 408 feet (124 meters) higher than the original tower. Highlights Of The View As the intro video ends and the screen rolls back, everyone rushes to the windows for a breathtaking bird’s eye view of New York. The first thing to notice is the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the first permanent bridge over the East River to still stand proudly after 150 years, alongside the new Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Look southwest to see the Statue of Liberty floating on an emerald island off the Jersey coast. There is a reason why the statue looks small when viewed from this height. At a modest 300 feet (93 m) high, it’s nearly half a kilometer shorter than One World Trade Center. The north-facing Empire State Building is instantly recognizable among the first-generation skyscrapers in central Manhattan. If you look closely, you might see the Chrysler and Flatiron buildings in the tall towers. Note the piers along the Hudson River where transatlantic steamships moored during New York’s Golden Age. To help locate the skyscrapers, you can use the tower’s iPad-based guide – One World Explorer – to zoom in and highlight individual buildings. History and Architecture New York’s tallest observation deck is located at the 94-story One World Trade Center, built to replace two World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The original plan was he created in 2002 by Daniel Libeskind, the architect of Berlin’s Jewish Museum, but the structure was redesigned by David M. Childs, the brains behind Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal. Construction began in 2006 and the tower was completed on May 10, 2013. This tapering tower is not only the tallest building in America, it is currently the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and also his sixth tallest building in the world by peak height. Height is no accident. The antenna is 1,776 feet (541 m) high, a tribute to the year the American Declaration of Independence was signed. Architecturally, the tower resembles a rectangular prism twisted 90°. This is the illusion created by the chamfered edges that divide the façade into a series of opposing isosceles triangles. It was the first large-scale building built using the Building Information Model, a digital platform created to manage all phases of planning, design and construction in a single virtual space. The experience Reaching the observation deck, 1,250 feet (386.5 m) above ground, is as much fun as taking in the scenery. Beginning on the ground floor, pass through a giant electronic world map highlighting the Tower’s visitor’s home country (using data from ticket scans) and the multi-screen installation Voices, which tells the stories of the people behind One World Trade Center. increase. But the real show begins when Skypod rides his elevator. His LED wall panels in the elevator take you on a virtual journey through the evolution of Manhattan’s skyline over the past five centuries. These high-tech elevators take visitors to the top in just 47 seconds at a speed of 36.5 km/h. This is his one of the fastest elevators in the world. Interestingly, the first tourist to climb the tower was New Jersey free climber Justin Casquejo. He passed through a security hole in his fence during the construction of the tower and only reached the top of the antenna when he was 16 years old. He was immediately arrested and sentenced to 23 days of community service. He also had to write his 1200-word essay explaining what he had learned from his experience. Once you reach the viewing level, the first step is an introductory video show before the view is revealed, but you can also go straight down to the portal’s view. As expected, there are many different restaurants and stalls selling souvenirs. Tickets and other practical things One World Observatory can get very busy, especially on weekends and peak tourist seasons, so it’s a good idea to book in advance to skip the lines. During the summer and some holidays, the opening hours are extended to 10 PM (last ticket sale is 8 AM).16:00), but if you need tickets for a specific time slot, it’s a good idea to check the website in advance. If you’re short on time, you can purchase a $53 skip-the-line ticket to skip all the lines and use the iPad One World Explorer digital guide that automatically identifies skyline sights. Various train and subway lines serve the World Trade Center station, but at Park Place he got off the subway one stop earlier and walked up to the tower at street level to get a good sense of its size. recommended. There are food options on site, all of which are at a premium. Better to go across the street to Le District and Hudson Eats Food Court in the Brookfield Place Complex. Hotels near One World ObservatoryYou’re paying a premium if you want to stay in Lower Manhattan, but there are some good options nearby. Address 285 Fulton St cnr West & Vesey Sts, Lower Manhattan Phone 212-602-4000 Website www.oneworldobservatory.com Hours 9am-9pm Sep-Apr, from 8am May-Aug Price adult/child/under-5s

Metropolitan Museum of Art

What started with a few paintings brought from Europe in the 19th century or donated by philanthropic gangs of bandits, is now a vast collection of 2 million works of art representing 5,000 years of history grew to It also makes him one of New York City’s most popular corners. Leonard, who starred in Gossip Her Girl, Her Cohen and Jorge, Her Luis, Met (as she is affectionately known), as noted in her Borges poetry, is the COVID-19 Pandemic. She was terribly lonely as she closed the door when her New York City shook. Her 17-acre exhibit space at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is filled with treasures that have captivated visitors since the 1870s. From ancient Sassanian textiles to Henry VIII’s armor, from the oldest surviving piano to Vermeer’s quilt in Gies Bend, Alabama, to the classic portrait of Emmanuel Gottlieb Leutze, to Washington across the Delaware, the Dutch You can see everything from the remarkable works of the masters. From embroidered kimonos to works by contemporary designers such as Marc Jacobs and Comme des Garçons, not to mention popular fashion-themed exhibits. Highlights of the Met When the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded 151 years before him, it was not intended as a symbol of empire like the British Museum or a symbol of revolution like the Louvre. Instead, it was designed to educate and build a team-oriented immigrant city and highlight the unique global culture of 19th-century New York City. Whether or not this proclaimed purpose was achieved by contemporary post-colonial standards is a matter of debate in recent years, and one that many museums around the world look forward to. Still, the Met is an evolving classic. As the 2021 PBS documentary Inside the Met points out, the year that was supposed to be a blockbuster commemoration of the museum’s 150th anniversary will include the use of digital space by the Met. It was a reassessment of our approach to inclusiveness and accessibility. Reopening on March 13, 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents its global collection in new contexts and invites renewed discussion of some of the oldest works by contemporary artists. Certainly too many to list completely, but here are some of the best highlights. The Egyptian Collection The ancient Egyptian collection on the ground floor is unmatched. Packed with 26,000 objects of his from the 6th century. Don’t miss the Temple of Dendur, built around 10 BC. Built in 1978 as a gift from Egypt to the United States to preserve priceless antiquities such as the temples of the Aswan High Dam project. Weapons and Armor The Arms and Armor Department became part of the Met in 1912 thanks to private donors, but the Edwardian era gave way to world wars, prompting many families to sell their collections and becoming part of British culture. As has changed, the collection has become very large. But it’s not just European examples of armor on display. The thousand items available to the public include 16th- and his 18th-century Japanese samurai armor, Turkish swords forged during the reign of the mighty King Suleiman, and Tibetan artifacts. Islamic arts and crafts A special collection of Islamic art showcases deeply influential motifs found in a variety of works of art, including carpets, cast metal objects, illustrated books, tiled prayer niches, and even coffins. . The collection consists of unique works of the Islamic world, from Iranian mosaics to intricate gold vessels made in Goa, blending Islamic arabesques with Portuguese colonial influences. Amulet gallstones). Travel fans can’t miss the astrolabe of Yemen’s prince Oumar ibn Yusuf ibn Umar ibn Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzafari. Near Eastern art The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 15 stunning rooms are dedicated to a vast collection of Middle Eastern art and artifacts. Objects range from Assyrian stone carvings to cuneiform tablets to ancient Iranian pottery made almost 4000 years before our era. There are small incense burners, drinking vessels, and large-scale installations such as the iconic winged bull with a human head (technically called lamassu) from the Assyrian city of Nimrud. European painting The Metropolitan Museum of Art began with a handful of Roman sarcophagi and 174 paintings purchased in Europe to enhance the museum’s collection. The second floor houses numerous masterpieces from the 13th century to his 20th century. There are Duccio di his Madonna of Buoninseña painted around 1290 AD, the famous portrait of Juande his Pareja painted by Velázquez in 1650, and Gustav his Klimt’s Mada of 1912 his Prima Vesi. There are also his OG members of the Met collection, such as the Meeting of Alexander the Great and Gaspard de Cryer’s Diogenes, sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by co-founder John Taylor Johnson. Others include the Madonna and Child, purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the COVID-19 sales freeze, and Queen Henrietta Maria of England in her 1636 Van Her Dyke, which Jane Wrightsman bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in her 2019 Includes newcomers such as portraits. One thing’s for sure, there’s no shortage of characters, stories, and techniques to absorb. Asian art Some of the oldest works of art on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are in the Asian Art Gallery, which includes 35,000 of his objects dating back 5,000 years. They are also one of his oldest non-European works of art in the Met’s collection, and have become part of the museum thanks to early patrons. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian and Tibetan paintings, woodcuts, textiles, ceramics, ornaments, lacquer, calligraphy and metalwork await you. There are Ming vases, Edo period kimonos embroidered with scenes from Genji history, and Buddhist scriptures painted in gold and silver. by a Korean master artist; a gold crown from India; The American Wing The American Wing capabilities ornamental and great artwork from for the duration of the long, numerous records of the United States, with 20,000 works with the aid of using artists of Indigenous, Latin American, African American, and Euro-American descent. From intricately carved and inlaid