New York New York is the biggest city in the USA and it has got more than eight million people. Its history dates back to 1624 when Dutch colonists founded a village called New Amsterdam. In 1664 the British conquered it and renamed it after the Duke of York. New York was the capital of the United States of America from 1785 to 1790. The city is made up of five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten island and Queens. The Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan with New York's most populous borough, Brooklyn. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge started in 1869 and took 14 years to complete. The bridge is one of the most magnificent landmarks in New York. For the many immigrants that came from Europe to New York, the Statue of Liberty was the first image they saw of the USA. The statue was a gift from the French government for the 100th birthday of America's Independence. The statue was designed by a young French sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. The crown has seven spikes, symbolizing the Seven Seas across which liberty should be spread. In her left hand she holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence and in her right hand a torch, symbolizing Enlightenment. The Statue of Liberty was constructed in Paris, France. It took nine years before it was completed in 1884 after which it was sent to the USA. Today the Statue is in the island known as Liberty Island. It is 46,5 meters high and together with the pedestal it reaches 93 meters. You can take the staircase inside the statue and walk all the way up the 354 steps to the crown from where you have a nice view over New York City. The Empire State Building is a Art Deco skyscraper and it is situated at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It is 381 meters high. Its name comes from the nickname for New York that once was Empire State. It was officially inaugurated on May 1, 1931 in the presence of governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and it stood as the world's highest building for more than 40 years until the construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower in 1972. After the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building became the highest building in New York City again.

In Central Park there are several lakes, theatres, fountains, tennis courts, baseball fields, many playgrounds and the Central Park Zoo. At weekends cars are not allowed into the park. In the park there are also statues of important writers and characters such as the statue of H. C. Andersen, Alice in the Wonderland and Balto. In the park there is also a place called Strawberry Fields that is a memorial to John Lennon, who was killed in 1980 in front of his home in the Dakota Building that is just across the road Times Square is the most bustling square of New York and it is known for its many Broadway theatres, cinemas and supersigns. It is one of those places that make New York a city that never sleeps. At the start of the first World War, Times square was the center of the Theater district and attracted a large number of visitors. This made the square an ideal place for billboards. In 1917 the first large electric display billboard was installed. 11 Years later, the first running electric sign was let for the first time, to announce Herbert Hoover's victory in the Presidential elections. The billboards have now become a tourist attraction for the area. The Chrysler building is one of the last skyscrapers in the Art Deco style. The gargoyles depict Chrysler car ornaments and the spire is modeled on a radiator grille. Since it was restored in 1996 it glitters again like it must have in the 1930s. Fifth Avenue starts north of Washington Square and goes all the way north up to 143rd street in Harlem. It is one of the world's most expensive streets, especially the area between 49th and 59th street where some of the most prestigious stores such as Bulgari, Prada, the NBA store or Tiffany can be found. Fifth Avenue is not just a shopping street. You'll also come across numerous museums. In fact, there are so many of them that the area between 82nd and 104th Streets is known as the 'Museum Mile'.

The most famous museums in this stree are the Metropolitan Museum that is one of the largest museums in the world and the Guggenheim Museum that is famous both for the 20th century building in which it is housed and for the modern art that can be admired inside. (Picture taken from www.aviewoncities.com) The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, known as MoMa is one of the landmark of New York. It houses works by the most famous artists such as Picasso, van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse, Andy Warhol, etc. (The piano lesson, H. Matisse) The idea for the museum was proposed by Abby Aldrich Rockeller, wife of John D. Jr. She asked the help of two dear friends, Lillie Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan, and together the ladies succeeded in opening the first modern art museum just a few days after the stock market crash of 1929. The museum was opened to the public in May 1939, and the building that houses MoMA was built in the so-called International Style that was popular during that era. This style generally refers to buildings constructed in the formative decades of Modernism, Rockefeller Center was originally known as Radio City and it is a complex of buildings developed in the midst of the Great Depression. The design of the complex was created by the American architect Benjamin Wistar Morris. His plan included a landscaped garden and a monumental Opera House as well as tall office towers, shops and terraces. The buildings would be connected by a series of bridges and walkways. However, the stock market crash of 1929 caused the abandone of the ambitious project. Rockefeller then launched a plan for a corporate complex to house the new radio and television corporations. Radio City was born. By 1940 Radio City, which became known as Rockefeller Center consisted of 14 buildings, located around a central plaza, the Lower Plaza. From the plaza you have a nice view of the sculpture of Prometheus and the GE building. In 1959 and the early seventies, Rockefeller Center was extended with 5 additional buildings along sixth Avenue.

In 1858 Rowland Hussey Macy opened his "fancy dry goods" store on New York's 6th Avenue now knows as Macy's. By 1902, Macy's had outgrown their 6th Avenue location and found it necessary to move to a much larger location at 34th and Herald Square where it still is. When the 1924 section was completed, Macy's became the largest department store in the world. In 1946, the United Nations were looking for a location for their new headquarters in New York. The original plan was to use the grounds of the 1939 World Fair in Queens. But when a project known as X-City on Manhattan's eastern border failed to materialize, John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought the 7 ha and donated it to United Nations. This site was then used to build the UN's headquarters. The whole area was converted into international territory and officially does not belong to the United States. (Picture taken from www.aviewoncities.com) The largest of the four buildings is the Secretariat of the building, home of the UN's administration and it has become a worldwide symbol of the United Nations. After the Dutch purchased "New Amsterdam" from the Native Americans, a wall was erected that formed the northern boundary of the new colony. That's how Wall Street got its name. The first "walls" along the street were basic fences, but as time passed and tensions with the mother country grew, a stronger wall was built in order to defend the colony against both the British and the American Indians tribes that still dominated the area. The British removed the wall in the 18th century. Records show that in the years after the Revolutionary War, traders and speculators would gather under a particular buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street. They soon formed The Buttonwood Association (1792), which is believed to be the roots of the New York Stock Exchange, whose headquarters has been located on Wall Street for centuries. The present building of Madison Square Garden is on 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets and was opened in 1968. It hosts approximately 350 events - often sold out - each year, nearly one per day, making it one of the busiest arenas in the world. Madison Square Garden has achieved much of its glory as the home base for two popular New York sports teams - the NHL New York Rangers and the NBA New York Knicks. The Garden owns these two teams and has hosted a number of all-star NBA and NHL games throughout the years. (Picture taken from www.aviewoncities.com) Manhattan Skyline Info taken and adapted from www.aviewoncities.com and wikipedia. The map at the beginning has been found on the net, for the other pictures, if not stated, they have been taken by myself, Chiara Sabatini, in August 2009.

Answer the following questions 1. How many boroughs is New York made of? 2. When was New York the capital city of the U.S.A.? 3. What does the Brooklyn Bridge connect? 4. Why did the French government give the Statue of Liberty to the U.S.A.? 5. How high is the Empire State Building? 6. What can you find in Central Park? 7. What is Strawberry Fields? 8. When and where wasJohn Lennon killed? 9. What is Times Square famous for? 10. What style is the Chrysler Building? 11. What can you do in Fifth Avenue? 12. If you want to see modern art, which museums do you go to? 13. When did the Rockfeller Center develop? 14. What is Macy's? 15. Who donated the land where the UN's headquarters was built? 16. Why has Wall Street got this name? 17. Which popular sports team are housed in Madison Square Garden? What sport do they play? 18. Have yuo aver been to New York? 19. Would you like to go there? Why? 20. What are your favourite places or monuments in New York? Why?