Aside from museums, there are many attractions for visitors to New York City to see and plenty of things to do in New York City. From famous buildings and landmarks to parks and festivals, these things to do in New York City offer endless sources of stimulation in NYC.
Most Popular New York City Tourist Attractions and Landmarks
The Statue of Liberty (
French: Statue de la Liberté), officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World (
French: La liberté éclairant le monde), is a monument that was presented by the people of
France to the
United States of America in 1886 to celebrate its
centennial. Stand
ing on
Liberty Island in
New York Harbor, it welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans traveling by ship.
[6] The
copper-clad statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the signing of the
United States Declaration of Independence and was given to the United States by
France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution.
[7] Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue
[8] and obtained a
U.S. patent for its structure.
[9] Maurice Koechlin—chief engineer of
Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the
Eiffel Tower—engineered the internal structure.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper in the statue's construction and adoption of the
repoussé technique, where a
malleable metal is hammered on the reverse side.
[10]The statue is made of a sheathing of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally
puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in
gold leaf (originally made of copper and later altered to hold glass panes). It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft (46 m) tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft (93 m) tall.
Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable
icons of the United States
[11] and was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe.
The statue is the central part of Statue of Liberty
National Monument, administered by the
National Park Service.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located on the
Upper West Side,
Manhattan,
New York,
USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated
museum
s in the world. Located in park-like grounds, the Museum comprises 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library.
The collections contain over 150 million specimens, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. The Museum has a scientific staff of more than 200, and sponsors over 100 special field expeditions each year.The Museum was founded in
1869. Prior to construction of the present complex, the Museum was housed in the older
Arsenal building in
Central Park.
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of
the 26th U.S. President, was one of the founders al
ong with John David Wolfe, William T. Blodgett, Robert L. Stuart,
Andrew H. Green, Robert Colgate,
Morris K. Jesup, Benjamin H. Field, D. Jackson Steward, Richard M. Blatchford,
J. Pierpont Morgan, Adrian Iselin,
Moses H. Grinnell, Benjamin B. Sherman,
A. G. Phelps Dodge, William A. Haines,
Charles A. Dana,
Joseph H. Choate,
Henry G. Stebbins, Henry Parish, and Howard Potter. The founding of the Museum realized the dream of naturalist Dr.
Albert S. Bickmore. Bickmore, a one-time student of
Harvard zoologist Louis Agassiz, lobbied tirelessly for years for the establishment of a natural history museum in New York. His proposal, backed by his powerful sponsors, won the support of the
Governor of New York,
John Thompson Hoffman, who signed a bill officially creating the American Museum of Natural History on
April 6, 1869.
Central Park is a large public,
urban park in the heart of
New York City and is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park has been a
National Historic Landmark since 1963.Central Park is a 843 acres (3.41 km2; 1.317 sq mi) public,
urban park in the Borough of
Manhattan, in New York City, it is similar in size to San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park, Chicago's
Lincoln Park, Vancouver's
Stanley Park and Munich's
Englischer Garten and just over 1/3 of the size of London's
Richmond Park. With about twenty-five million visitors annually, Central Park is the most visited city park in the United States,
[3] and its appearance in many movies and television
shows have made it famous.
The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private,
not-for-profit organization that manages the park under a contract with the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation,
[2] in which the president of the Conservancy is ex officio Administrator of Central Park.
Central Park is bordered on the north by West
110th Street, on the south by West
59th Street, on the west by
Eighth Avenue. Along the park's borders however, these are known as
Central Park North,
Central Park South, and
Central Park West respectively.
Fifth Avenue retains its name along the eastern border of the park. Most of the areas immediately adjacent to the park are known for impressive buildings and valuable real estate.
The park was designed by landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted and architect
Calvert Vaux, who went on to collaborate on
Brooklyn's
Prospect Park. Central Park has been a
National Historic Landmark since 1963.
[4][5][6]While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds,
[7] extensive
walking tracks, bridle paths, two
ice-skating rinks one of which is a
swimming pool in July and August, the
Central Park Zoo, the
Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a 106-acre (43 ha) billion gallon reservoir with an encircling running track, and an outdoor amphitheater called the
Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals. Indoor attractions include
Belvedere Castle with its nature center, the
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, and the historic Carousel. In addition there are numerous major and minor grassy areas, some of which are used for informal or team sports, some are set aside as quiet areas, and there are a number of enclosed
playgrounds for children.
The park has its own wildlife and also serves as an oasis for migrating birds, especially in the fall and the spring, making it a significant attraction for
bird watchers; 200 species of birds are regularly seen.
[8] The 6 miles (10 km) of drives within the park are used by joggers, bicyclists and inline skaters, especially on weekends, and in the evenings after 7:00 p.m., when automobile traffic is banned.
The real-estate value of Central Park is estimated to be $528,783,552,000 according to the property-appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
remember to find out about any discounts available on weekend stays.
remember to find out about any discounts available on weekend stays.
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