New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [95]
New-York Historical Society.
Manhattan’s oldest museum, founded in 1804, has one of the city’s finest research libraries and a collection of 6 million pieces of art, literature, and memorabilia. Special exhibitions shed light on New York’s—and America’s—history, art, and architecture. Major exhibits have included Hudson River School landscapes and an examination of New York City’s role in the slavery debate and the Civil War.
Unlike other museums that keep much of their collections in storage, virtually all of the museum’s huge and eclectic permanent collection—ranging from 19th-century cockroach traps to the armchair that George Washington sat in during his inaugural ceremony—are displayed in glass shelves in the museum’s Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture. It’s a bit of a jumble, but you’re bound to stumble across many wonderful things.
The recently completed $65-million renovation has snatched this museum from the purview of history buffs and placed it center stage for all New York visitors. The already spectacular block-long neoclassical building has been enhanced with long overdue features offering a more contemporary experience on a par with its large cousins across Central Park.
History and grandeur have now been made personal and tangible. Visitors enter through the Great Hall where they use kiosks and view original objects tied to key themes of American history such as commerce and immigration. Every year one major history exhibit demonstrates how the past is anything but dead. Currently, Revolution uses the common winds of liberty and freedom to connect the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.
Foodies are encouraged to explore small plates at the latest Starr (of Buddakan and Morimoto) restaurant on the first floor. Families rejoice in what might just be one of the few museums showing historical figures as they were when they were young themselves in the relatively huge 2,300 square foot DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Barbara K. Lipman Children’s History Library. | 2 W. 77th St., at Central Park W, Upper West Side | 10023 | 212/873–3400 | www.nyhistory.org | $12 | Tues.–Thurs. and weekends 10–6, Fri. 10–8 | Subway: B, C to 81st St.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH: The Cloisters Museum and Gardens.
Perched on a wooded hill in Fort Tryon Park, near Manhattan’s northwestern tip, the Cloisters Museum and Gardens, which shelters the medieval collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a scenic destination on its own. Colonnaded walks connect authentic French and Spanish monastic cloisters, a French Romanesque chapel, a 12th-century chapter house, and a Romanesque apse. One room is devoted to the 15th- and 16th-century Unicorn Tapestries from around 1500—a must-see masterpiece of medieval mythology. The tomb effigies are another highlight. Two of the three enclosed gardens shelter more than 250 species of plants similar to those grown during the Middle Ages, including flowers, herbs, and medicinals; the third is an ornamental garden planted with both modern and medieval plants, providing color and fragrance from early spring until late fall. Concerts of medieval music are held here regularly (concert tickets include same-day admission to the museum), and an outdoor café decorated with 15th-century carvings serves biscotti and espresso from May through October. | 99 Margaret Corbin Dr., Upper West Side | 10040 | 212/923–3700 | www.metmuseum.org | $20 suggested donation | Mar.–Oct., Tues.–Sun. 9:30–5:15; Nov.–Feb., Tues.–Sun. 9:30–4:45 | Subway: A to 190th St.
Nicholas Roerich Museum.
An 1898 Upper West Side town house contains this small, eccentric museum dedicated to the work of Russian artist Nicholas Roerich, who immigrated to New York in the 1920s and quickly developed