NEW YORK City

Manhattan is the smallest part of NY. It is a rocky island between the East River and Hudson River. The origin of the word Manhattan was in an old Indian language. The Indians said “Man-a-hat-ta”, it means “Heavenly land”. Manhattan was built on a modern plan of streets and avenues. Most streets go from east to west and have numbers instead of names. Most avenues go from north to south. Broadway, the original Indian path which is now a famous theatre centre, is the only real exception to the plan – it runs from north to south along the whole Manhattan Island.. Fifth Avenue, -New York’s most famous shopping street, the most expensive street in the world, full of luxurious boutiques and jeweller´s,e.g. Tiffany´s.

Nowadays, Manhattan is famous for its skyscrapers. They were built because of a lack of space and high prices of land.Wall Street is the centre of the financial life, stock exchanges and banks. SoHo (South Houston) – the world of contemporary artists, art galleries and restaurants.. In Manhattan there are many luxury department stores, hotels, cafés.. Everyone knows the Empire State Building ( the highest skyscraper in NYC) or the Statue of Liberty.

A large part of northern Manhattan is called Harlem after a town in the Netherlands. Black Americans live in this area.

Symbols of New York: Skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty

1. skyscrapers

Skyscrapers are situated especially in Manhattan. One of the most famous skyscrapers is called the Empire State Building. It has about 102 floors. At the top there is a TV tower and a restaurant. Visitors can go by lifts which are very quick – they can get to the 86th floor in one minute only. Then they must change lifts to get to the very top. Empire State Building is the most visited one. It has about 30.000 visitors every day. The skyscraper was built in 1931. It was the highest building, not only in NY but also all over the world for a long time. Its observation deck is visited by 3 million tourists every year. Many wedding ceremonies take place here on St Valentine’s Day. The World Trade Centre – known as the Twins – (WTC) was a complex of seven buildings. The centre itself was a large complex of firms, stores, restaurants and banks. It was destroyed by terrorist attacks in 2001.

Rockefeller Centre –named after millionare Rockefeller, commercial buildings

2. The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous landmarks in the world. The enormous statue is 93 metres high and stands in New York harbour on the Liberty Island. For the millions of immigrants to the USA, who saw it as they sailed into NY for the first time, it became a symbol of liberty. The statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the USA in 1866 to commemorate the first hundred years of American independence.

It is a statue of a woman who symbolizes the freedom and friendship between the French and American people during the American Revolution. She holds a burning torch in her right hand and a law book in her left one, with an inscription “July 4th 1776” – it means the birth date of the USA. The seven spikes of the statue’s crown represent the seven oceans and continents of the world. The statue’s face is based on the strong face of the sculptor’s mother. The statue, which is made of copper, was designed by the French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. It took fifteen years to build. Money for it was risen through lotteries and dinner parties. It was constructed in sections in Paris, then it was put into 2010 boxes and taken across the Atlantic by ship.