Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 26 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

The iconic Statue of Liberty

Our visit to New York City wouldn’t be complete without visiting its iconic Statue of Liberty. After breakfast at our hotel, we all took a taxi to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, our gateway to Liberty Island, in Upper New York Bay. Though entrance to the national monument is free, we had to pay the cost (US$25.5 for adults and US$16 for children 4 – 12 years old) for the ferry service that all visitors must use.

A Statue Cruises ferry

Since 2007, Statue Cruises has been operating the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing Circle Line, which had operated the service since 1953. The ferries also depart from Liberty State Park in Jersey City. After paying up, we all boarded our ferry that would take us to Liberty Island.

L-R: Cheska, Kyle (partly hidden), Grace, Jandy and the author at the third level of the ferry

Our ferry would also stop at Ellis Island, north of Liberty Island, making this a combined trip. Both islands, which comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument, were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800. To have best views of the Statue of Liberty, we all sat at the third level. Our sailing time to the island took approximately 15 mins.

Check out “Ellis Island Immigration Museum”

This colossal, Neo-Classical copper sculpture, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. An icon of freedom and of the United States, this statue’s foundation and pedestal was aligned so that it would face southeast, greeting ships entering the harbor from the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, it was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad as vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it as they proceeded toward Manhattan.

Liberty Island

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the statue:

This robed female figure, representing Libertas (the Roman goddess of freedom), wears a stola and pella (gown and cloak, common in depictions of Roman goddesses) and holds a torch aloft above her head. In her left arm, she carries a tabula ansata (used to evoke the concept of law) inscribed in Roman numerals with “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken chain, lies at her feet, half-hidden by her robes and difficult to see from the ground.
The statue is one of the earliest examples of curtain wall construction, in which the exterior of the structure is not load bearing, but is instead supported by an interior framework.
The pedestal’s poured concrete walls, up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick (the concrete mass was the largest poured to that time), was faced with Stony Creek granite blocks (from the Beattie Quarry in Branford, Connecticut).
New York’s first ticker-tape parade was held during the statue’s dedication. The parade route, beginning at Madison Square, proceeded to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan by way of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, with a slight detour so the parade could pass in front of the World building on Park Row. As the parade passed the New York Stock Exchange, traders threw ticker tape from the windows, beginning the New York tradition of the ticker-tape parade. Estimates of the number of people who watched it ranged from several hundred thousand to a million.
Originally, the statue was a dull copper color but, shortly after 1900, a green patina (also called verdigris) caused by the oxidation of the copper skin, began to spread and, by 1906, had entirely covered the statue. The Army Corps of Engineers studied the patina for any ill effects to the statue and concluded that it protected the skin. The statue was painted only on the inside. The Corps of Engineers also installed an elevator to take visitors from the base to the top of the pedestal.
In 1917, during World War I, images of the statue were heavily used in both recruitment posters and the Liberty Bond drives that urged American citizens to support the war financially. This impressed upon the public the war’s stated purpose—to secure liberty and served as a reminder that embattled France had given the United States the statue.
The statue sustained minor damage (mostly to the torch-bearing right arm) on July 30, 1916, during World War I, when German saboteurs detonated carloads of dynamite and other explosives that were being sent to Britain and France for their war efforts, on the Black Tom peninsula in Jersey City, New Jersey, in what is now part of Liberty State Park, close to Bedloe’s Island. Seven people were killed, the statue was closed for ten days and the cost to repair the statue and buildings on the island was about US$100,000. Since 1916, the narrow ascent to the torch was closed for public safety reasons, and it has remained closed ever since.
In 1929, the only successful suicide in the statue’s history occurred when a man climbed out of one of the windows in the crown and jumped to his death, glancing off the statue’s breast and landing on the base.
The statue was only illuminated every night, all night, beginning in 1957. During World War II, the statue, though open to visitors, was not illuminated at night due to wartime blackouts. It was lit briefly on December 31, 1943, and on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when its lights flashed “dot-dot-dot-dash,” the Morse code for V, for victory. From 1944 to 1945, new, powerful lighting was installed and, beginning on V-E Day, the statue was once again illuminated after sunset. The lighting then was for only a few hours each evening.
In 1946, the interior of the statue within reach of visitors was coated with a special plastic so that graffiti could be washed away.
In 1984, when the statue was closed to the public for renovation, workers erected the world’s largest free-standing scaffold,which obscured the statue from view.
The Statue of Liberty was one of the earliest beneficiaries of cause marketing. Its fundraising arm, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., raised more than $350 million in donations.
The statue and the island was closed to the public a number of times. From May to December 1938 and from 1984 to 1986 it was closed for renovation and restoration. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the statue and the island was again closed to the public. The island reopened at the end of 2001, the pedestal in August 2004 and the statue on July 4, 2009 (however, only a limited number of people would be permitted to ascend to the crown each day). The statue, including the pedestal and base, closed on October 29, 2011, for installation of new elevators and staircases and to bring other facilities, such as restrooms, up to code. The statue was reopened on October 28, 2012 but closed again a day later due to Hurricane Sandy. The statue and Liberty Island reopened to the public on July 4, 2013. For part of October 2013, Liberty Island, along with other federally funded museums, parks, monuments, construction projects and buildings, was closed to the public due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.
The current torch, installed in 1986, has a flame is covered in 24-caratgold which reflects the sun’s rays in daytime. It is lighted by floodlights at night.
is a frequent subject in popular culture. In music, the statue has been evoked to indicate support for American policies, as in Toby Keith‘s song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” In protest and opposition of the Reagan administration, it appeared on the cover of the Dead Kennedys‘ album Bedtime for Democracy.
In 1942, the torch is the setting for the climax of director Alfred Hitchcock‘s movie Saboteur. In the 1968 picture Planet of the Apes, the statue makes one of its most famous cinematic appearances in which it is seen half-buried in sand. In the 1996 science-fiction film Independence Day, it is knocked over while in the 2008 film Cloverfield, the statue’s head is ripped off.
In Jack Finney‘s time-travel novel Time and Again, the right arm of the statue, on display in the early 1880s in Madison Square Park, plays a crucial role.
Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Libertyare displayed worldwide. A smaller version of the statue, one-fourth the height of the original and standing on the Île aux Cygnes, facing west toward her larger sister, was given by the American community in Paris to that city. A 9.1 m. (30 ft.) tall replica, which once stood atop the Liberty Warehouse on West 64th Street in Manhattan for many years, now resides at the Brooklyn Museum. From 1949–1952, in a patriotic tribute, the Boy Scouts of America, as part of their Strengthen the Arm of Liberty campaign, donated about 200 replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper and 2,500 mm. (100 in.) in height, to states and municipalities across the United States. During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a statue known as the Goddess of Democracy, though not a true replica, was temporarily erected. Similarly inspired by French democratic traditions, the sculptors took care to avoid a direct imitation of the Statue of Liberty. A replica of the statue, as well as other recreations of New York City structures, is also part of the exterior of the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The Statue of Liberty, as an American icon, has been depicted on the country’s coinage and stamps. It appeared on commemorative coins to mark its 1986 centennial and New York’s 2001 entry in the state quartersIn 1997, an image of the statue was chosen for the American Eagle platinum bullion coins and was placed on the reverse (or tails) side of the Presidential Dollar series of circulating coins. Two images of the statue’s torch appear on the current ten-dollar bill. However, the statue’s intended photographic depiction on a 2010 forever stamp instead proved to be the replica at the Las Vegas casino.
Between 1986 and 2000, New York State issued license plates with an outline of the statue to either the front or the side of the serial number. The Women’s National Basketball Association‘s New York Liberty used both the statue’s name and its image in their logo (however, the torch’s flame doubles as a basketball). Beginning in 1997, the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League depicted the statue’s head on their third jersey. The National Collegiate Athletic Association‘s 1996 Men’s Basketball Final Four, played at New Jersey’s Meadowlands Sports Complex, featured the statue in its logo. The Libertarian Party of the United States also uses the statue in its emblem.

The Statue of Liberty seen from our ferry

Édouard René de Laboulaye, French law professor and politician, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society, a prominent and important political thinker of his time and an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, was said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to U.S. independence would properly be a joint project of the French and U.S. peoples and he inspired Bartholdi to create the statue. Due to the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s and, in 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue with the U.S. providing the site and building the pedestal.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi

Before the statue was fully designed, Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm. For publicity, the torch-bearing arm was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and, from 1876 to 1882, in Madison Square Park in Manhattan before it was returned to France to join the rest of the statue.

The torch-bearing arm

The head was exhibited at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair. To experience a changing perspective on the statue, Bartholdi gave it bold Classical contours and applied simplified modeling, reflecting the huge scale of the project and its solemn purpose. The statue was first built in France.

The statue’s head

Aside from Bartholdi, the following were also involved in the construction of the statue:

Architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the chief engineer of the project and Bartholdi’s friend and mentor, designed a brick pier within the statue, to which the skin would be anchored. After consultations with by the Paris firm of Gaget, Gauthier et Cie (Cie is the French abbreviation analogous to Co.), the metalwork foundry, Viollet-le-Duc chose copper sheets, the metal which would be used for the skin, and repoussé, the method used to shape it, in which the sheets were heated and then struck with wooden hammers. An advantage of this choice was that the entire statue would be light for its volume. The head and arm had been built with assistance from Viollet-le-Duc, who fell ill in 1879 and soon died, leaving no indication of how he intended to transition from the copper skin to his proposed masonry pier.
Gustave Eiffel, the innovative designer and builder of the Eiffel Tower, and structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin, decided to abandon the proposed masonry pier and instead build an iron truss To prevent galvanic corrosionbetween the copper skin and the iron support structure, Eiffel insulated the skin with asbestos impregnated with shellac. To make it easier for visitors to reach the observation point in the crown, Eiffel included two interior spiral staircases. He also provided access to an observation platform surrounding the torch. As the pylon tower arose, Eiffel and Bartholdi coordinated their work carefully so that completed segments of skin would fit exactly on the support structure. The components of the pylon tower were built in the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Joachim Goschen Giæver, a Norwegian immigrant civil engineer, designed the structural framework for the Statue of Liberty. Working from drawings and sketches produced by Gustave Eiffel, he did the design computations, detailed fabrication and construction drawings, and oversight of construction.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal, succeeded Laboulaye (upon his death in 1883) as chairman of the French committee.
Richard Morris Hunt designed the pedestal on Bedloe Island. Containing elements of classical architecture, including Doric portals, as well as some elements influenced by Aztec architecture, its large mass is fragmented with architectural detail, in order to focus attention on the statue. In form, it is a truncated pyramid, 19 m. (62 ft.) square at the base and 12 m. (39.4 ft.) at the top, with four sides identical in appearance.
Charles Pomeroy Stone, a former army general, oversaw the construction work on the pedestal.
Frederick Law Olmsted, renowned landscape architect and co-designer of New York’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, supervised a cleanup of Bedloe’s Island in anticipation of the dedication.
Gutzon Borglum, who later sculpted Mount Rushmore, redesigned the torch, replacing much of the original copper with stained glass.

Check out “Eiffel Tower“

In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue’s big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P. Morton. The completed statue was formally presented to Ambassador Morton at a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. By January 1885, after sufficient progress on the pedestal pedestal (its cornerstone was laid in 1884 and it was completed on April 1886) had occurred, the Statue of Liberty was disassembled and crated for its ocean voyage to New York City on board the French steamer Isère.

Liberty Island Pier

On June 17, 1885, the statue safely reached the New York port, with 200,000 people lining the docks and hundreds of boats putting to sea to welcome the French vessel. Upon arrival, it was assembled on the on what was then called Bedloe’s Island (officially renamed Liberty Island in 1956 by an Act of Congress).

The statue’s pedestal

A dedication ceremony on October 28, 1886, presided over by President Grover Cleveland (a former New York governor), marked the statue’s completion. Until 1901, the statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board and then by the Department of War. Since 1933, it has been maintained by the National Park Service. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the statue a National Monument.

Liberty Island Pavilion

Diorama of Bartholdi inside pavilion

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the statue transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) and, in 1937, the NPS gained jurisdiction over the rest of Bedloe’s Island. In 1965, nearby Ellis Island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument by proclamation of President Lyndon Johnson. In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The author with grandson Kyle

At the western end of Liberty Island is a group of statues, all works of Maryland sculptor Phillip Ratner, honoring those closely associated with the Statue of Liberty.

Emma Lazarus

Two Americans— Joseph Pulitzer (publisher of the New York World, a New York newspaper, who announced a drive to raise $100,000 for the statue) and poet Emma Lazarus (whose sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is uniquely identified with the Statue of Liberty)—and three Frenchmen—Bartholdi, Eiffel, and Laboulaye—are depicted.

Grace and Jandy

Kyle and Cheska

The statue has the following physical characteristics:

Height of copper statue – 46 m. (151 ft., 1 in.)
Foundation of pedestal (ground level) to tip of torch – 93 m. (305 ft., 1 in.)
Heel to top of head – 34 m. (111 ft., 1 in.)
Height of hand – 5 m. (16 ft., 5 in.)
Index finger – 2.44 m. (8 ft., 1 in.)
Circumference at second joint – 1.07 m. (3 ft., 6 in.)
Head from chin to cranium – 5.26 m. (17 ft., 3 in.)
Head thickness from ear to ear – 3.05 m. (10 ft.)
Distance across the eye – 0.76 m. (2 ft., 6 in.)
Length of nose – 1.48 m. (4 ft., 6 in.)
Right arm length – 12.8 m. (42 ft.)
Right arm greatest thickness – 3.66 m. (12 ft.)
Thickness of waist – 10.67 m. (35 ft.)
Width of mouth – 0.91 m. (3 ft.)
Tablet, length – 7.19 m. (23 ft., 7 in.)
Tablet, width – 4.14 m. (13 ft., 7 in.)
Tablet, thickness – 0.61 m. (2 ft.)
Height of pedestal – 27.13 m. (89 ft.)
Height of foundation – 19.81 m. (65 ft.)
Weight of copper used in statue – 27.22 tons (60,000 lbs.)
Weight of steel used in statue – 113.4 tons (250,000 lbs.)
Total weight of statue – 204.1 tons (450,000 lbs.)
Thickness of copper sheeting – 2.4 mm. (3/32 of an inch)

Back at Liberty Island Pier for ferry to Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty National Monument: Liberty Island, New York Harbor, New York City 10004, United States.Tel: +1 646 356 2150. Open daily (except December 25), 8:30 AM – 7 PM.

All ferry riders are subject to security screening, similar to airport procedures, prior to boarding. Visitors intending to enter the statue’s base and pedestal must obtain a complimentary museum/pedestal ticket along with their ferry ticket. You can buy tickets online at www.statueoflibertytickets.com.

Those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue to the crown purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance. A total of 240 people per day are permitted to ascend: ten per group, three groups per hour. Large bags are not allowed on Liberty or Ellis Islands. Backpacks, strollers and large umbrellas are not permitted in the Monument. Climbers may bring only medication and cameras—lockers are provided for other items—and must undergo a second security screening.

St. Augustine Catholic Church (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

Posted on 26 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

St. Augustine Catholic Church

The historic and pretty ornate St. Augustine Catholic Church (also called Olde St. Augustine’s), built to replace the Old St. Augustine Church (the first Order of Hermits of St. Augustine church founded in the United States) which was completed in 1801 and burned down in the anti-Catholic Philadelphia Nativist Riots on May 8, 1844 (all that remained was the back wall of the altar), was designed by architect Napoleon LeBrun who also designed Philadelphia landmarks as the Academy of Music (eventual home of the Philadelphia Orchestra) and the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The church’s Palladian-style facade

The present church, whose cornerstone was laid on May 27, 1847, was completed in December 1848 and consecrated by Bishop Francis Kenrick and Archbishop John Hughes who presided over High Mass on November 5, 1848.

The main entrance

In 1922, the altar area underwent significant restoration and change, the vestibule of the church was changed significantly and stairs were put in when 4th Street was excavated to pass under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. The nave of the church is original. The color in the brick facade of the church indicates where the original church brick ends and where the 1922 brick begins. On June 15, 1976, the church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The magnificent interior

On December 1992, a severe storm severely damaged the church’s steeple whose debris fell onto the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, closing for three days. The damaged steeple had to be disassembled and removed. A 50-ft. chasm opened in the church roof caused the priceless painting and murals inside to suffer water damage. On October 18, 1995, a new steeple was erected.

Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) meets the scared Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) inside the church in The Sixth Sense

The interior and exterior of St. Augustine’s Church was featured in the 1999 M. Night Shyamalan spooky thriller The Sixth Sense (where Bruce Willis, as Dr. Malcolm Crowe, and Haley Joel Osment, as Cole Sear, meet for the first time) and the 2007 action movie Shooter (in which the church’s bell tower figures in an assassination plot).

The Shooter

This church is the parish of choice of many Filipino-American Catholics (who increased the congregation’s numbers in the 1990s) from Philadelphia, the city’s suburbs and the tri-state area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware). In fact, on January 11, 1992, an exact replica of Santo Niño de Cebú was installed and dedicated here and Filipinos have held a special mass and festivals (also called Sinulog) for the Santo Niño, making it the National Shrine for devotion to Santo Nino in North America.

This Palladian-style (an Italian-Renaissance variant) church, with its non-cruciform plan, has a flat, decorated roof, semicircular arched window, an enormous cleaving balcony and two sets of stained glass windows, each dedicated to a saint. The impressive, ornate foyer, though lower than the church (you need to take another set of stairs to go up into the church), is treated like a part of the interior.

The main arched altar, framed by an archway supported by brown Corinthian columns flanked by flying angels, consists of white marble with shafts of Mexican onyx bordering the tabernacle. Behind the altar is a Crucifixion tableau, painted by Hans Hansen in 1926, crowned by the words “The Lord Seeth.” Above it sits a domed skylight. The wrap-around, 3-sided gallery essentially divides the space vertically in half.

The main altar

The beautiful ceiling frescoes, depicting scenes from “St. Augustine in Glory,” as well as murals on either side of the altar were painted by Philip Costaggini (who painted part of the frieze on the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.) in 1884 and are the oldest in any church in America.

Statue of St. Nicholas Tolentine at the ornate foyer

Statue of St. Thomas of Villanova

St. Augustine Catholic Church: 243 North Lawrence St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, United States. Tel: +1 215-627-1838. Fax: 215-627-3911. E-mail: staugustineparish09@gmail.com. Website: www.st-augustinechurch.com. Mass schedules: Mondays – Fridays: 12:05 PM (10 AM during legal holidays), Saturdays (Vigil – 5:15 PM) and Sundays (9 AM, 11 AM and 7 PM). Novena prayers to Santo Nino are held after the 11 AM Sunday Mass. Open Mondays to Fridays, 9 AM to 5 PM; weekends, 9 AM to the conclusion of the evening masses.

30th Street Station (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

Posted on 26 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

30th Street Station

The 52,000 m² (562,000 ft²) 30th Street Station, the main railroad station in Philadelphia and one of the seven stations in Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority‘s (SEPTA) Center City fare zone, sits across from the former United States Post Office-Main Branch. A major stop on Amtrak‘s (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) Northeast and Keystone Corridors, it is Amtrak’s 3rd-busiest station and the busiest of the 24 stations served in Pennsylvania. On an average day in 2013, about 11,300 people boarded or left trains in Philadelphia, nearly twice as many as in the rest of the Pennsylvania stations combined. This was to be our entry point to Philadelphia (from New York City) and exit point from Philadelphia to Baltimore (Maryland).

The main concourse

Originally known as the Pennsylvania Station–30th Street (in accord with the naming style of other Pennsylvania Stations), the enormous, steel-framed structure was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White (the successor to D.H. Burnham & Company). Construction began in 1927 and the station opened in 1933, starting with two platform tracks.

The author and son Jandy at the waiting area

From 1988-1991, the building was restored and renovated, at a cost of US$75 million, by Dan Peter Kopple & Associates, with updated retail amenities added including several shops, a large food court, car rental facilities, Saxby’s Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts, both in the South Arcade and South Concourse, and others.

Dunkin’ Donut outlet

Above the passenger areas, 280,000 sq. ft. of office space was modernized to house approximately 1,100 Amtrak employees. The former mail handling facility was converted into an underground parking garage. The 30th Street Station is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Train Schedule Display Board

The building’s architecturally interesting exterior, an adaptation and transformation of Neo-Classical elements into a more modern, streamlined Art Deco architectural style, has a pair of soaring, columned porte-cocheres on the west and east façade, its best known features.

Waiting Area

The cavernous, 290 by 135 ft. main passenger concourse, notable for its stylistic and functional elements, has ornate Art Deco décor, with a vast waiting room faced with travertine and a soaring coffered ceiling, painted gold, red and cream, with beautiful chandeliers.

Ticket offices

Works of art are located throughout the building. Prominently displayed within the waiting area is the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial, sculpted in 1950 by Walker Hancock. Honoring 1,307 Pennsylvania Railroad employees (listed in alphabetical order on the four sides of the base of that sculpture) killed in World War II (out of the more than 54,000 who served), it consists of a bronze statue of the archangel Michael lifting the body of a dead soldier out of the flames of war.

Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial

The Spirit of Transportation, a bas relief sculpture of Karl Bitter, was executed in 1895 and originally placed in the waiting room of Broad Street Station, Philadelphia. On January, 1955, it was moved to current site in the North Waiting Room. The Spirit of Transportation is represented in triumphal procession of progress. It features a central female figure sitting in a horse-drawn carriage, while children cradle models of a steamship, steam locomotive and dirigible, a prophetic vision of a mode of transportation to come.

Spirit of Transportation bas-relief sculpture

The station was featured in the 1981 film Blow Out, the 1983 film Trading Places, the 1985 film Witness, the 2000 film Unbreakable, the 2010 video game Heavy Rain, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 7, and the 2015 film The Visit. It is within walking distance of various attractions in West Philadelphia, notably the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the University City Science Center, all in University City.

Kyle, Grace, Cheska and Jandy waiting for our train to Baltimore at the train platform

30th Street Station: 2955 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The very first mass we attended in the US, on the eve of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, was held at the beautiful Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was officiated by the very friendly and welcoming Fr. Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J.

Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola

This Roman Catholic parish church, under the authority of the Archdiocese of New York, is administered by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The church is part of a Jesuit complex on the block that includes Wallace Hall, the parish hall (beneath the church), the rectory (at the midblock location on Park Ave.), the grade school of St. Ignatius’s School (on the north midblock location of 84th St., behind the church) and the high school of Loyola School (also 980 Park Ave.) at the northwest corner of Park Ave. and 83rd St. The Regis High School (55 East 84th St.), another Jesuit high school, occupies the midblock location on the north side of 84th St..

Established in 1851 as St. Lawrence O’Toole‘s (a twelfth-century bishop of Dublin) Church, a wooden church was erected in 1852 but was replaced, in 1853, by a modest brick structure. In 1886, it was entrusted to the care of the Society of Jesus the Jesuits’ first major apostolate in the Yorkville area of New York. In 1898, it was granted permission by Rome to change the patron saint of the parish to St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The church’s foundation was built from 1884 to 1886 and the present German Baroque-style church, designed by Arch. J. William Schickel of Schickel & Ditmars, was built from 1895 to 1900. On December 11, 1898, it was dedicated by the Most Reverend Michael Corrigan, third Archbishop of New York. On March 4, 1969, the church was declared as a New York City Landmark and, on July 24, 1980, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The beautiful church interior

Notable people whose funerals were held here include:

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (US First Lady) – May 1994 (she was also baptized and confirmed here)
Aaliyah (singer and actress) – August 2001
Lena Horne (singer and actress) – May 2010
Philip Seymour Hoffman (actor) – February 2014
Oscar de la Renta (fashion designer) – November 2014
Mario Cuomo (governor of New York) – January 2015
Ann Mara (co-owner of N.Y. Giants Football Team) – February 2015
David Carr (Y. Times media columnist) – February 2015

This 90 ft. high and 87 ft. wide architectural gem has a Classical Park Avenue exterior that is not static, with the central division raised in slight relief beyond the side divisions. Its façade has 2 unbroken vertical orders, a Palladian arched window and a tri-part horizontal division which suggest the central nave and side aisles beyond. Directly beneath the pediment are inscribed the words “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (“To the Greater Glory of God”, the motto of the Society of Jesus, and the Great Seal of the Society (composed of a cross, three nails, and the letters I H S, the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek which later became a Latin acronym denoting Jesus the Savior of Humankind).

The altar

The varying intervals between the symmetrically positioned pilasters create a subtly undulating dynamism that introduces a note of syncopated rhythm reminiscent of the exterior of Il Gesù, the Jesuits’ mother church in Rome. Two copper-capped tower bases, on either side of the central pediment, are hints of the abandoned grander scheme of a pair of towers designed to reach 210 ft. above the ground. The church’s intricate marble work, executed by the firm of James G. Batterson, Jr., and John Eisele of New York, includes American (pink Tennessee), European (yellow Siena, veined Pavonazzo and white Carrara) and African (red-veined Numidian and pink Algerian) marble. The soaring ceiling was beautifully crafted and the intricate stained glass windows tells the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection.

The high ceiling

The marble mosaic Stations of the Cross panels were designed by Professor Paoletti for Salviati & Company of Venice. The great 12-panel bronze doors, located at the sanctuary end of the side aisles, were designed by the Rev. Patrick O’Gorman, S.J. (pastor from 1924 to 1929) and were crafted by the Long Island Bronze Company. The Carrara marble Jesuit statues (including St. Francis Xavier and St. John Francis Regis) were carved by the Joseph Sibbel Studio of New York. The church organ, built by N.P. Mander of London, was dedicated in 1993 and is New York City’s largest mechanical action (tracker) pipe organ.

The semicircular wrought-iron baptistery screen of gilt flaming swords, in the Chapel of John the Baptist, was wrought by Mr. John Williams to the designs of William Schickel. The Carrara marble baptistery font, set above the marble pavement, was designed “by Heaton, Butler & Bayne of London, with slight modifications made by Mr. John Buck of the Ecclesiastical Department of the Gorham Company of New York (also responsible for the cutting and installing the mosaic’s tesserae – the pieces comprising the mosaic).

The baptistery’s altar and the surrounding curved walls, designed and executed under the direction of Mr. Caryl Coleman of the Ecclesiastical Department of the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (who also executed the baptistery’s semi-dome), were made with Pavonazzo marble inlaid with mosaics (composed of that company’s justly famous opalescent Favrile glass, as delicate as the Venetian glass mosaics above are bold).

Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola: 980 Park Ave. cor. East 84th St., New York City, New York 10028. Tel: +212-288-3588. Website: www.stignatiusloyola.org. Mass Schedule: Mondays-Fridays, 8:30 AM, 12:10 PM and 5:30 PM; Saturdays, 8:30 AM an 5:30 PM; Sundays, 8 AM, 9:30 AM, 11 AM (Solemn Mass) and 7:30 PM.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum), located at the former location of the Twin Towers (destroyed during the September 11 attacks) at the World Trade Center site, are the principal memorial and museum, respectively, that commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 victims, and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which killed six.

September 11 Memorial Plaza

The memorial was designed by Israeli architect Michael Arad (whose Reflecting Absence, on January 2004,was selected as the winner, from among 5,201 entries from 63 countries, of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition) of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm, who worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design.

Layout of Memorial Plaza

Featuring a forest of trees with two square pools in the center where the Twin Towers stood, its design was consistent with the original Daniel Libeskind master plan which called for the memorial to be 9.1 m (30 ft.) below street level (originally 21 m./70 ft.) in a plaza. Started on August 2006, the memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks, an was opened to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014 and opened on May 21.

South Pool

Two 4,000 m²(1 acre) pools, with the largest man-made waterfalls (intended to mute the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary) in the United States, comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. Delta Fountains engineered the fountain. Many parts of the memorial were planted by Walker with white oaks while almost 400 sweet gum and swamp white oak trees fill the remaining 24,000 m²(6 acres) of the Memorial Plaza, enhancing the site’s reflective nature.

Parapet on wall with bronze plates inscribed with victims’ names

The parapets of the walls of the memorial pools are attached with 76 bronze plates inscribed with the names, arranged according to an algorithm, of 2,983 victims – 2,977 killed in the September 11 attacks and six killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Flower offering for one of the victims

Around the perimeter of the North Pool are the names of the employees and visitors in the North Tower (WTC 1), the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11 (which struck the North Tower), and the 5 employees and a visitor, all adults, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, all memorialized on Panel N-73.

North Pool

Around the perimeter of the South Pool are the names of the employees and visitors in the South Tower (WTC 2), the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 (which struck the South Tower), the employees, visitors, and bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the North and South Towers, the first responders (listed with their units) who died during rescue operations, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and American Airlines Flight 77 (which struck the Pentagon), and the employees at the Pentagon.

Though company names are not included, the company employees and visitors are listed together. Passengers on the 2 United Airlines and 2 American Airline flights are listed under their flight numbers. The phrase “and her unborn child” follows the names of ten pregnant women who died on 9/11 and one who died in the 1993 attack.

Survivor Tree

The “Survivor Tree,” a symbol of hope and rebirth, is a 2.4 m.( 8-ft.) tall callery pear tree (planted during the 1970s near Buildings 4 and 5, in the vicinity of Church St.) which was recovered, badly burned with one living branch, from the rubble at the World Trade Center site on October 2001. Nursed back to health by the Bronx nursery, the then 9.1 m. (30 ft.) tall tree was returned, on December 2010, to the World Trade Center site and is now a prominent part of the memorial.

September 11 Memorial Museum

The September 11 Memorial Museum, dedicated on May 15, 2014 and opened to the public on May 21, was built at the former location of Fritz Koenig‘s The Sphere, a large metallic sculpture placed in the middle of a large pool between the Twin Towers. Designed by Davis Brody Bond, the museum, about 21 m. (70 ft.) below ground and accessible through a pavilion designed by Snøhetta, encloses 10,000 m² (110,000 sq. ft.) of publicly accessible space. Its exhibits include 23,000 images, 10,300 artifacts (including wrecked emergency vehicles, two tridents from the Twin Towers and pieces of metal from all seven World Trade Center buildings including the last piece of steel to leave Ground Zero in May 2002), nearly 2,000 oral histories of those killed (mostly provided by friends and families) and over 500 hours of video.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum: 180 Greenwich St, New York City, New York 10007. Open daily, 7:30 AM – 9 PM. Admission: US$24/adult, children below 12 years old is free.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is the permanent home, of a continuously expanding collection of Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year.

Museum Lobby

Overlooking Central Park, the site’s proximity to the park afforded relief from the noise, congestion and concrete of the city and nature also provided the museum with inspiration. In 2013, nearly 1.2 million people visited the museum, and it hosted the most popular exhibition in New York City.

Atrium

Established in 1939 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (established in 1937, it fosters the appreciation of modern art) as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. The museum adopted its current name in 1952, after the death of its founder.

The skylight

In 1959, the museum moved, from rented space, to its current Modernist, distinctively cylindrical building, a landmark work of 20th-century architecture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright who experimented with his organic style in an urban setting.

It took him 15 years, 700 sketches, and six sets of working drawings to create the museum. The museum underwent extensive expansion and renovations in 1992 (when an adjoining tower was built) and from 2005 to 2008.

Three sculptures by Edgar Degas

Three sculptures by Constantin Brancusi

The building was conceived, by Rebay, as a “temple of the spirit” that would facilitate a new way of looking at the modern pieces in the collection.

The Studio (1928,oil and black crayon on canvas, Pablo Picasso)

Accordionist (1911, oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso)

Woman With Yellow Hair (1931, oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso)

The only museum designed by Wright and his last major work (he died six months before its opening on October 21, 1959), the appearance of the building, viewed from the street, is in sharp contrast to the typically rectangular Manhattan buildings that surround it (a fact relished by Wright).

Bend in the Road Through the Forest (Paul Cezanne)

Still Life Plate of Peaches (Paul Cezanne)

Still Life Flask, Glass and Jug (Paul Cezanne)

It looks like a white ribbon curled into a cylindrical stack, wider at the top than the bottom, and displaying nearly all curved surfaces.

Circumcision (oil on canvas, 1946, Jackson Pollock)

Plate from Poor Richard suite (1971, Philip Guston)

Internally, Wright’s plan for the viewing gallery was for the museum guests to ride to the top of the building by elevator, to descend, at a leisurely pace, along the gentle slope of the unique, continuous helical ramp gallery, extending up from ground level in a long, continuous spiral (recalling a nautilus shell) along the outer edges of the building and ending just under the ceiling skylight at the top.

The Antipope (December 1941–March 1942, Max Ernst)

Polyphonic (1945 Oil on canvas, Perle Fine)

The atrium of the building was to be viewed as the last work of art. The open rotunda afforded viewers the unique possibility of simultaneously seeing several bays of work on different levels and even to interact with guests on other levels.

Black Lines (Vassily Kandinsky)

Striped (1934, oil with sand on canvas, Vassily Kandinsky)

Wright’s spiral design, embracing nature, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another, also expresses his take on Modernist architecture’s rigid geometry.

Dining Room on the Garden (1934-35, oil on canvas, Pierre Bonnard)

Invention (Composition No. 3) – 1933,oil on canvas, Rudolf Bauer

To reduce the cost, the building’s surface was made out of concrete, inferior to the stone finish, with a red-colored exterior, that Wright had wanted and which was never realized.

Men in the City (1919, oil on canvas, Fernand Leger)

The Smokers (1911-12, oil on canvas, Fernand Leger)

Also largely for financial reasons, Wright’s original plan for an adjoining tower, artists’ studios and apartments also went unrealized until the renovation and expansion.

Eiffel Tower (1911, oil on canvas, Robert Delaunay)

Portrait of Countess Albazzi, (1880, Pastel on primed canvas, Edouard Manet)

Wright’s carefully articulated lighting effects for the main gallery skylight had been compromised when it was covered during the original construction but, in 1992, was restored to its original design.

In the Vanilla Grove, Man and Horse (Paul Gaugin)

The Kiss (1927, Max Ernst)

The “Monitor Building” (as Wright called it), the small rotunda next to the large rotunda, was intended to house apartments for Rebay and Guggenheim but, instead, became offices and storage space. In 1965, the second floor of the Monitor building was renovated to display the museum’s growing permanent collection.

Nude Model in the Studio (1912-13, oil on burlap, Fernand Leger)

With the 1990–92 restoration of the museum, it was turned over entirely to exhibition space and christened the Thannhauser Building, in honor of art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser, one of the most important bequests to the museum. Much of the interior of the building was restored during the 1992 renovation.

Orphism (Robert Delauney)

Also in 1992, a new, adjoining rectangular 10-storey limestone tower, taller than the original spiral and designed by the architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, expanded the exhibition space with the addition of four additional exhibition galleries with flat walls.

Knight Errant (1916, oil on canvas, Oskar Kokoschka)

Yellow Bar (Rolph Scarlett)

Between September 2005 and July 2008, the museum underwent a significant exterior restoration to repair cracks and modernize systems and exterior details. It was completed on September 22, 2008. On October 6, 2008, the museum was registered as a National Historic Landmark.

Improvisation 28 (second version) – Vassily Kandinsky

In 2001, the museum opened the 8,200 sq. ft. (760 m²) Sackler Center for Arts Education (a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler family), a facility located on the lower level of the museum, below the large rotunda.

Woman with Parakeet (1871, oil on canvas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir)

Listening (1920, oil on canvas, Heinrich Campendonk)

It provides classes and lectures about the visual and performing arts and opportunities to interact with the museum’s collections and special exhibitions through its labs, exhibition spaces, conference rooms and 266-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater.

Paris Through the Window (1913, oil on canvas, Marc Chagall)

The Flying Carriage (1913, oil on canvas, Marc Chagall)

The Soldier Drinks (1911-12, oil on canvas, Marc Chagall)

Beginning with Solomon R. Guggenheim‘s original collection works of the old masters since the 1890s, the museum’s collection (shared with the museum’s sister museums in Bilbao, Spain, and elsewhere) has grown organically, over eight decades. It is founded upon several important private collections. Here’s a chronology of the museum’s acquisitions:

In 1948, the foundation’s collection included a broad spectrum of expressionist and surrealist works, including paintings by Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka and Joan Miró.

Personage (1925, oil on canvas, Juan Miro)

In 1948, the collection was greatly expanded through the purchase of art dealer Karl Nierendorf’s estate of some 730 objects, notably German expressionist.

Mountains at Saint Remy (1889, oil on canvas, Vincent Van Gogh)

Landscape with Snow (1888, oil on canvas, Vincent Van Gogh)

In 1963, museum director Thomas M. Messer acquired a private collection from art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser for the museum’s permanent collection. These 73 works include Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and French modern masterpieces, including important works by Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Vincent van Gogh and 32 works by Pablo Picasso.

Before the Mirror (1876, oil on canvas, Edouard Manet)

Artist Hilla von Rebay, its first director until 1952, also left, in her will, a portion of her personal collection of European avant-garde art, in particular abstract art that she felt had a spiritual and Utopian aspect (non-objective art), to the foundation, including works by Wassily Kandinsky, Klee, Alexander Calder, Albert Gleizes, Piet Mondrian and Kurt Schwitters.

Arc of Petals (Alexander Calder)

In 1953, director James Johnson Sweeney acquired Constantin Brâncuși‘s Adam and Eve (1921), Paul Cézanne‘s Man with Crossed Arms (c. 1899) as well as works of other Modernist sculptors such as Joseph Csaky, Jean Arp, Calder, Alberto Giacometti and David Smith.

Adam and Eve (Constantin Brancusi)

The same year, the foundation also received a gift of 28 important works from the estate of Katherine S. Dreier, a colleague of Rebay and a founder of Société Anonyme, America’s first collection to be called a modern art museum. It included Little French Girl (1914–18) by Brâncuși, an untitled still life (1916) by Juan Gris, a bronze sculpture (1919) by Alexander Archipenko, three collages (1919–21) by German Hanoverian Dadaist Schwitters as well as works by Calder, Marcel Duchamp, El Lissitzky and Mondrian. Among others, Sweeney also acquired the works of Alberto Giacometti, David Hayes, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.

Little French Girl (Constantin Brancusi)

In 1991, Thomas Krens (director of the foundation from 1988 to 2008) acquired the Panza Collection, assembled byCount Giuseppe di Biumo and his wife, Giovanna. The collection includes examples of Minimalist sculptures by Carl Andre, Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, and Minimalist paintings by Robert Mangold, Brice Marden and Robert Ryman, as well as an array of Post-Minimal, Conceptual, and perceptual art by Robert Morris, Richard Serra, James Turrell, Lawrence Weiner and others, notably American examples of the 1960s and 1970s.

On Brooklyn Bridge (1917, oil on canvas, Albert Gleizes)

Woman with Animals (1914, oil on canvas, Albert Gleizes)

In 1992, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation donated 200 of Mapplethorpe’s best photographs to the foundation, an acquisition that initiated the foundation’s photography exhibition program. Spanning his entire output, it includes early collages, Polaroids, portraits of celebrities, self-portraits, male and female nudes, flowers and statues, mixed-media constructions and included his well-known 1998 Self-Portrait.

In 2001, a large collection of the Bohen Foundation was gifted to the foundation. It consists of commissioned works of art (Pierre Huyghe, Sophie Calle, etc.), with an emphasis on film, video, photography and new media.

The building has been widely praised and inspired many other architects. However, the design polarized architecture critics who believed that the building would overshadow the museum’s artworks.

Alchemy (Jackson Pollock)

Some artists have also protested the display of their work in such a space. The continuous spiral ramp gallery, tilted with non-vertical curved walls, presented challenges to the museum’s ability to present art at all as it is awkward and difficult to properly hang paintings in the shallow, windowless concave exhibition niches that surround the central spiral.

The Neighborhood of Jas de Bouffan (Paul Cezanne)

Bibemus (Paul Cezanne)

Canvasses must be mounted raised from the wall’s surface. Paintings hung slanted back would appear “as on the artist’s easel.” There was also limited space within the niches for sculpture.

The Break of Day (1937, oil on canvas, Paul Delvaux)

Landscape Near Antwerp (1906, oil on canvas, Georges Braque)

The slope of the floor and the curvature of the walls also combined to produce vexing optical illusions. Three-dimensional sculpture or any vertical object appears tilted in a “drunken lurch.”

The Sun in Its Jewel Case (Yves Tanguy)

To compensate for the space’s weird geometry, special plinths were constructed at a particular angle, so that pieces were not at a true vertical would appear to be so.

The Red Bird (1944, oil on canvas, Adolph Gottlieb)

Fruit Dish on a Checkered Table Cloth (Juan Gris)

However, this trick proved impossible for an Alexander Calder mobile whose wire inevitably hung at a true plumb vertical, “suggesting hallucination” in the disorienting context of the tilted floor.

The Fourteenth of July (Pablo Picasso)

Bird on a Tree (Pablo Picasso)

Three Bathers (Pablo Picasso)

Some of the most popular and important art exhibitions held here include:

The first season “Works and Process,” a series of performances at the Guggenheim begun in 1984, consisted ofPhilip Glass with Christopher Keene on Akhnaten and Steve Reich and Michael Tilson Thomas on The Desert Music.
“Africa: The Art of a Continent” (1996)
“China: 5,000 Years” (1998)
“Brazil: Body & Soul” (2001)
“The Aztec Empire” (2004)
The Art of the Motorcycle– an unusual exhibition of commercial art installations of motorcycles.
The 2009 retrospective of Frank Lloyd Wright – the museum’s most popular exhibit (since it began keeping such attendance records in 1992), it showcased the architect on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the building.

Dancers in Green and Yellow (1903, pastel and charcoal on tracing paper mounted to paperboard, Edgar Degas)

In The International, a shootout occurs in the museum. A life-size replica of the museum was built for this scene.

Tableau No. 2, Composition No. VII (1913, Oil on Canvas, Piet Mondrian)

Composition 8 (Piet Mondrian)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: 1071 Fifth Avenue corner East 89th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, NY 10128, USA. Tel: +1 212-423-3500. E-mail: visitorinfo@guggenheim.org. Open 10 AM – 5:45 PM. Admission: US$25 for adults, US$18 for students and seniors (65 years + with valid ID), children below 12 years old is free.

Metropolitan Museum of Art – Greek and Roman Art (New York City, New York, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 3 Comments ↓

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Greek and Roman art, comprising more than 30,000 works, ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine‘s conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312, naturally concentrates on items from the historical regions of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

Marble Statue of the Three Graces (Roman Imperial Period)

In 2007, the Greek and Roman galleries were expanded to approximately 6,000 m²(60,000 sq. ft.), allowing the majority of the collection to be on permanent display.

Marble Statue of Aphrodite Anadyomene

It represents a wide range of cultures and artistic styles, from classic Greek black-figure and red-figure vases to carved Roman tunic pins. Dating back to the founding of the museum, the museum collection’s first accessioned object was, in fact, a Roman sarcophagus that is still currently on display.

Marble Statue of Athena Parthenos

The collection, among the most comprehensive in North America, includes the monumental Amathus sarcophagus; the “Monteleone chariot” (a magnificently detailed Etruscan chariot); several large classical wall paintings and reliefs from different periods (including an entire reconstructed bedroom from a noble villa in Boscoreale, excavated after its entombment by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79); as well as many pieces from far earlier than the Greek or Roman empires(among the most remarkable are an abstract; seemingly almost modern collection of early Cycladic sculptures from the mid-third millennium BC).

Terracotta pointed neck amphora with stand (470 BC)

The collection of Greek and Roman art, representing the geographic regions of Greece (though not as delimited by modern political frontiers) and Italy (its geographical limits coinciding with the expansion of the Roman Empire), includes the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) ) as well as art from the Greek colonies (established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea) and the increasingly Hellenized Cyprus; and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples (notably the Etruscans).

Marble Head of a Young Woman From a Funerary Statue

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s extensive collection of ancient Greek art, preeminent in the Western Hemisphere and among the finest in the world, feature masterpieces from the Archaic and Classical periods (sixth through fourth centuries B.C.). They are presented in seven large galleries, named after distinguished American collectors and philanthropists such as Mary and Michael Jaharis, Judy and Michael Steinhardt, Joyce and Dietrich von Bothmer and Malcolm Wiener, all refurbished to their original Neo-Classical grandeur.

Marble Statue o a Wounded Amazon (Roman, 1st – 2nd century AD)

All are arranged in a contextual display that combines works of many media. Objects in the New Greek Galleries embrace such themes as religion, funerary customs, civic life, and athletics.

Greek Art of the Sixth through Fourth Centuries B.C.

The grand, barrel-vaulted Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery (Greek Art of the Sixth through Fourth Centuries B.C.), formerly used for the display of Cypriot and Roman art, is a soaring, 140-ft.-long space flanked, on each side, by three galleries that present a chronological progression of works in all media of large-scale sculpture and other monumental works of the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries B.C..

It extends south from The Robert and Renée Belfer Court for Early Greek Art all the way to the Sardis column.

The Museum’s distinguished collection of works of the sixth century, presented more or less chronologically and in close relationship to the art shown in the adjacent galleries, include large-scale sculpture, Panathenaic amphorae, large vases of conventional shape and decoration (once filled with olive oil and presented as prizes to victors in contests held during the Panathenaic festival, which honored Athena, patron goddess of Athens).

Marble Sphinx on a Cavetto Capital

The large-scale marble copies, at the central section of the gallery, are among the finest sculptures that dominate this space. Made during the Roman period, these over-life-sized bronze statues, created in Greece during the fifth and fourth centuries (but lost or melted down over time), include a wounded Amazon and a statue of the Greek hero Protesilaus (the first Greek to set foot on the shore of Troy during the Trojan War).

Towering above two original, fourth century B.C. marble statues of draped women as well as an over-life-sized head of a youthful goddess, in an area devoted to the works of the fourth century B.C., are large marble foliate sculptures that once crowned tall Athenian grave monuments.

The Judy and Michael H. Steinhardt Gallery (Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.), three galleries on the east side of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery, is unique in the Western Hemisphere in its display of the three major types of Greek freestanding marble sculpture of the sixth century B.C. – the kouros and kore, which served as funerary monuments or dedications, and the pillar-like grave stele.

6th Century Greek Art

The gallery is devoted primarily to original marble sculpture of the Archaic and Classical periods when Athens supplanted Corinth as the center of pottery production. It is exemplified by several works attributed to the Amasis Painter, one of the most skillful and innovative of the black-figure artists. The gallery opens this sequence with the museum’s outstanding collection of Athenian funerary monuments of the sixth century B.C.

The New York Kouros, a marble statue of a nude youth (kouros) standing in the center of the room, once marked the grave of a young member of a wealthy landowning family and is one of the earliest monumental kouroi to have survived complete.

Other grave markers, displayed nearby, include rectangular shafts decorated with finely carved and painted reliefs of the deceased. One of the best preserved archaic Attic Greek stelai in existence, standing over 13 ft. high, bears traces of most of its original painted decoration.

Free-standing and relief sculptures, monuments demonstrating the rapid development in naturalistic representation, includes one in particularly good state of preservation, complete with the crowning member in the form of a sphinx.

Also displayed throughout the room are vases, small bronzes and other objects of this period, are all grouped in a way that elucidates important customs and beliefs concerning death, warfare and drinking parties (known as symposia) which were current in Athens throughout the Archaic period.

The Bothmer Gallery I (Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.), through the museum’s exceptional collection of painted terracotta vases, provides an insight into the lives of Athenians of this time. The pieces in this gallery are arranged in a roughly chronological order – from ca. 600 B.C. to 525 B.C., covering the mature Archaic style in Athens and ending with a major historical development – the initial westward push of the Persian Empire (which ultimately was defeated by the Greeks in the Persian Wars).

Some vase painters were known from their signatures (such as Nearchos, Lydos, Exekias, among others) while others remain anonymous and are given modern names of convenience (such as the Affecter or Amasis Painter) which may stem from the name of a collaborator that is known (such as a potter); a significant location; a particular collector in modern times; or a feature of the artist’s style.

Whether their ancient names are known or not, the potters and painters revealed distinctive artistic personalities and a singular capacity to depict a story. Decoration included all manner of scenes from daily life as well as from the colorful and complex world of mythology.
In the black-figure technique, practiced from about 600 to 530 B.C., glazed portions of a work were black and the remaining surface was the deep orange color of the clay. Exekias, among the known leading artistic personalities represented in this gallery, was the consummate master of this technique. During the time of the initial westward push of the Persian Empire, the red-figure technique in vase painting was invented and, gradually, began to replace the earlier black-figure technique.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

The Robert and Renée Belfer Court (Prehistoric and Early Greek Art), next to the Great Hall on the first floor, provides the introduction to all the galleries of ancient Greek and Roman art and includes a map of the ancient world.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

It displays prehistoric and early Greek art as well as, from time to time, rotating major artworks on loan of varying periods.

Prehistoric and Early Greek Art

The Bothmer Gallery II (Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.), providing examples of Athenian vase painting between about 530 and 400 B.C. (when the flexibility of the newly developed red-figure technique permitted artists to draw freely over the convex and concave surfaces of vases), displays vases (a high proportion were made for containing, pouring, and drinking wine), bronzes, terracottas, and gems of this period. Original works of art from a time when the great creations of bronze and marble sculpture are, in large part, lost or preserved only in later copies of the Roman period, these are particularly important.

Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.

Coinage on display here, significant not only for its historical and commercial aspects but also for its iconographical and aesthetic qualities, represents specific cities (the head of Athena for Athens or Pegasus, the flying horse, for Corinth, etc.) and is also recurrent motifs in other media. In this gallery, the museum’s collections of coins were supplemented by a loan, from the American Numismatic Society, of approximately 75 significant coins.

Figuring prominently in this gallery are an extraordinary group of Greek potters and vase painters active in Athens who mastered, during the first half of the fifth century, the organic representation of the human body.

They include Euphronios and Euthymides (innovators who exploited the expressive possibilities of the red-figure technique at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth century B.C.) as well as their successors (who often specialized in specific vessel shapes) Brygos Painter, Douris and Makron, who devoted themselves to the embellishment of drinking cups, and Kleophrades Painter, the Berlin Painter, Myson, and others who devoted themselves to larger pots. For the first time in many years, the current reinstallation makes it possible to see the major works of the foremost painters grouped together.

During this time, white-ground vases found particular favor. The most popular vases in the collection are superlative examples by the Achilles Painter as well as a toilet box (pyxis), decorated with the Judgment of Paris, and a bobbin (yo yo), that was made as a dedication, both attributed to the Penthesilea Painter.

The Carolyn, Kate, Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jonathan Wiener Gallery (Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.) presents a collection of some of the museum’s finest marble grave markers from Athens dating from the mid-fifth century B.C. through the early fourth century B.C.

5th Century BC Greek Art

There are also cases with clay and bronze vases, small bronze statuettes, glass vessels, gold jewelry, and terracotta figurines, all arranged to provide an overview of Athenian society.

Beautifully carved funerary reliefs include the well-known relief of a girl with doves (conveying some of the ideal beauty and sweetness of expression that is found in figures on the great architectural frieze that embellished the upper walls of the Parthenon in Athens); that of a young woman and her servant, and another of an entire family group, all giving a sense of the unprecedented flowering of art and culture that took place during the fifth century in Athens.

Greek Art of the 5th and Early 4th Century

The Stavros and Danaë Costopoulos Gallery (Greek Art of the Fifth and Early Fourth Centuries B.C.), presenting the art of Athens during the second half of the fifth century B.C. (the time in which the Parthenon was being erected between 447 and 432 B.C. on the Athenian Acropolis and when vase painting attained its most serene and classical expression), prominent displays funerary vases covered with a white slip (known as white ground) and decorated in a range of colors not previously used in Greek ceramics.

The Museum’s collections represent the major artists and, most importantly, convey the innovations that they brought to traditional subjects such as warfare, the life of women, and mythology.

The Achilles Painter, the great master and innovator trained in the red-figure technique by the Berlin Painter whose greatest innovations can be seen in the funerary lekythoi (oil flasks) that were covered with a white slip (permitting the use of polychromy), is represented by an important krater as well as by a variety of smaller vases.

The Spyros and Eurydice Costopoulos Gallery (Greek Art of the Fourth Century B.C.) includes Athenian funerary monuments (including large-scale marble vases that were used as grave markers) of this period (when Athens was still a center of artistic excellence) that became more and more elaborate over the years.

4th Century BC Greek Art

The graceful charm of the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles (famous throughout antiquity for having carved the first nude statue of Aphrodite) can be seen in one pair of fully three-dimensional figures of young girls that stood over a tomb. Four colossal, three-dimensional stone funerary monuments, in the form of marble vessels decorated with low reliefs and commonly used to hold oil or water during funerary rites, stand at the center of the gallery.

Terracotta statuettes in several cases, known today as “Tanagra figurines” (since great numbers were found during the late 19th century at the site of the ancient city of Tanagra in Boeotia, north of Attica), were first made in Athens (during the second half of the fourth century B.C.) and represent fashionable women or girls. These terracottas are still prized today for their naturalness, vitality and charm.

Also on display in this gallery are large bronze vases decorated with reliefs; elaborate bronze mirrors; silver and glass vessels; and gold jewelry of a type found in the rich Macedonian tombs. An exceptional pair of earrings, a superb set of jewelry found in Macedonia, has tiny figures of Zeus in the form of an eagle abducting the young Trojan prince, Ganymede, and carrying him through the air to Mount Olympus (home of the gods).

Leon Levy and Shelby White Court for Hellenistic and Roman Art

The spectacular Leon Levy and Shelby White Court for Hellenistic and Roman art, created by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White between 1912 and 1926, has an atrium which evokes the ambulatory garden of a large private Roman villa, with a glass roof allowing the objects below to be viewed in natural daylight.

The Met’s representative collection of Roman portrait busts, depicting emperors, other members of the imperial family, and private individuals, is displayed, in chronological order, along the perimeter of the court while on display at the center of the court are nearly 20 Roman sculptures created between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D. Some of the Roman art on display include:

The Old Market Woman (Roman, Julio-Claudian, A.D. 14-68)
The life-size bronze Portrait Statue of an Aristocratic Boy (Roman, Augustan, 27 B.C.-A.D. 14)
Two larger-than-life-size statues of Hercules facing one another from either side of the court (both Roman, Flavian, A.D. 69-98) -both works were part of the Giustiniani Collection in Rome, first published in 1631
A marble portrait head of the Emperor Augustus (Roman, Julio-Claudian, ca. A.D. 14-37)
A fine marble bust of Caligula (Roman, Julio-Claudian, A.D. 37-41)
A marble portrait of Antoninus Pius (Roman, Antonine, A.D. 138-161)
The Marble Garland Sarcophagus (Roman, Severan, ca. A.D. 200-225) – found at Tarsus (southern Turkey) in 1863, it entered the Metropolitan in 1870 as the first object offered to and accepted by the museum.
The marble statue of Hope Dionysos (Roman, Augustan or Julio-Claudian, 27 B.C.-A.D. 68) – named after the prominent collector Thomas Hope (who acquired it in 1796, it is an adaptation of a Greek statue of the fourth century B.C.
A decorative support for a basin (Roman, Mid-Imperial, second century A.D.) – formed part of the collection of William Waldorf Astor (later Baron Astor of Hever) who assembled his collection of antiquities between 1890 and 1905.
Architectural fragments from the Emperor Domitian‘s palace on the Palatine in Rome (Roman, ca. A.D. 90-92)
The Badminton Sarcophagus (Roman, Late Imperial, A.D. 260-70) – carved in high relief from a single block of marble, it came from the collection of the dukes of Beaufort and was formerly displayed in their country seat, Badminton Hall in Gloucestershire, England.

Adjoining the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court are galleries designated for the presentation of South Italian art (fourth-first century B.C.); Hellenistic art and architecture, the Hellenistic treasury, and Hellenistic art and the Hellenistic tradition (third-first century B.C.); and the art of Augustan Rome (first century A.D.), Roman imperial art (second century A.D.), and the art of the later Roman empire (third century A.D.).

Highlights of these galleries are two actual rooms from Roman villas – with their stunning wall paintings – that were buried nearly two thousand years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

South Italian Art Fourth–First Century BC (Gallery 161)

South Italian Art (Fourth-First century B.C.) – One of the principal features of culture in South Italy, known since antiquity as “Magna Graecia” (“Greater Greece”), is its interest in Greek drama, often reflected in works of art. On display here are a number of kraters (bowls for mixing wine and water):

A red-figure calyx-krater (ca. 400-390 B.C., Greek, South Italian, Apulian, Late Classical) – vase painting attributed to the Tarporley Painter.
A terracotta column-krater (ca. 360-350 B.C., Greek, South Italian, Apulian, Late Classical). – at the entrance to the gallery.

Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Helenistic Art and Architecture

Prominently displayed within the Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Hellenistic Art and Architecture is the newly conserved, nearly 12 ft. high, fluted marble Sardis Column (Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 300 B.C.) – part of the shaft of a column, from the Temple of Artemis (one of the largest temples ever built in antiquity) at Sardis, that once stood some 58 feet high (from its scale-patterned base to its finely crafted Ionic capital) in its original setting.

It was excavated at Sardis (the ancient capital of Lydia, in western Turkey) early in the 20th century.

Marble column (Temple of Artemis, Sardis)

Also on display is a noble, radiant and monumental marble Head of a Ptolemaic Queen (Greek, Ptolemaic, ca. 270-250 B.C.). Highly idealized in a pure Greek style and retaining its original polish, it ranks with the finest Ptolemaic royal portraits.

The Hellenistic Treasury is an intimate showplace for outstanding examples of luxury goods, primarily made of precious metals, gemstones or glass as well as coins (important loans from the American Numismatic Society) and refined small-scale objects having a private or religious use. Among those on display here are a pair of spectacular gold serpentine armbands (Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 200 B.C.) and a small bronze statue of a veiled and masked dancer (Greek, third-second century B.C.).

John Georgias Family Gallery for Hellenistic Art and Hellenistic Tradition

The John Georgas Family Gallery for Hellenistic Art and the Hellenistic Tradition (Third – First Century B.C.) displays a collection of bronze sculptures including a statue of Eros sleeping (Greek or Roman, Hellenistic or Augustan, third century B.C.-early first century A.D.), one of the few bronze statues that have survived from antiquity.

Wall painting (P. Fannius Synistor Villa, Boscoreale)

At its reception hall are several fresco panels, the largest of which is a grouping of three frescoes, from Boscoreale (located near Pompeii, it was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79), the sumptuous villa of the wealthy Roman patron P. Fannius Synistor (Roman, Late Republican, ca. 50-40 B.C.), with figures that are generally agreed to be copies of a cycle of royal paintings created for one of the Macedonian courts of the Hellenistic period. They probably celebrate a dynastic marriage.

Wall painting (P. Fannius Synistor Villa, Boscoreale)

The Black Room (Gallery 165, Roman, Augustan, last decade of first century B.C.), a reconstruction of a room from the imperial villa (partially excavated between 1903 and 1905 after its accidental discovery during work on a railway) of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase, incorporates surviving panels from the original walls. The wall panels, set against a flat, monochrome surface, features Egyptianizing motifs and medallions with portraits of members of the imperial family.

The Black Room Late First Century BC (Gallery 167)

The Sylvia Josephs Berger and Joyce Berger Cowin Gallery for the Art of Augustan Rome (First Century A.D.) contains many exquisite examples of Roman imperial art.

Art of Augustan Rome Late First Century B.C.–First Century AD

They include:

A sardonyx cameo (Roman, Claudian, A.D. 41-54) – a masterpiece in miniature carving, it was part of the celebrated 17th-century collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel.
A beautiful cast glass bowl (Roman, Augustan, late first century B.C.)
A glass jug (Roman, Julio-Claudian, first half of first century A.D.) – signed by Ennion (from the eastern Mediterranean coastal city of Sidon in modern Lebanon), the most famous and gifted of the known makers of Roman mold-blown glass.

Art of Imperial Rome Second Century A.D.

Roman Imperial Art (Second Century A.D.) focuses on the arts of Rome during the peaceful and prosperous second century A.D. It includes a recently acquired marble cinerary urn or container for the ashes of a cremated body (Roman, Julio-Claudian, first half of the first century A.D.), a singular example of Roman funerary art.

The John A. and Carole O. Moran Gallery for the Art of the Later Roman Empire (Third Century A.D.) prominently displays a collection of Roman sarcophagi figures including:

A fine strigillated sarcophagus (a type that was very popular in Rome and Italy), although the marble from which it was made comes from northwest Asia Minor (Turkey).
The bronze statue of Trebonianus Gallus (Roman, Late Imperial, A.D. 251-53)
The monumental marble head of Constantine the Great (Roman, Late Imperial, ca. A.D. 325-70).

Also on display are gold, silver, and bronze coins that were minted primarily to supply money for state expenditure and to facilitate the collection of taxes. Additional galleries and a study collection are located on the mezzanine level.

The dramatic Leon Levy and Shelby White Gallery for Etruscan Art (Ninth-Second Century B.C.), located at the Mezzanine Level, overlooking the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court to the north and Central Park to the south, is devoted to the art of the Etruscans, from their earliest creations to the time of Roman rule.

Its centerpiece is the newly restored, world-famous Etruscan chariot (second quarter of the sixth century B.C.), one of the great works in the museum’s collection and one of very few complete chariots to survive from antiquity. Made with bronze mounted on a wooden substructure, it is inlaid with precious elephant and hippopotamus ivory and richly decorated with scenes from the life of the Greek hero Achilles. It was probably used solely for ceremonial purposes before being buried in a tomb.

Displayed nearby is a rich array of smaller bronze and terracotta objects found in the same tomb as well as the Bolsena tomb-group, which includes works that were part of the burial of a woman.

Also on view are the following:

A small, charming Etruscan vase (which may originally have contained ink) in the shape of a cockerel (ca. 630-620 B.C.), inscribed with the 26 letters of the Etruscan alphabet.
A small bronze statuette of a young, elaborately dressed Etruscan woman (Archaic, late sixth century B.C.), most likely used as a religious offering in a sanctuary.
The so-called “Morgan amber” (Etruscan, Late Archaic, ca. 500 B.C.) – the most complex and most important carved amber surviving from ancient Italy, it shows a couple reclining on a couch. It came to the museum with the bequest of the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan.
A set of jewelry found in a tomb (late archaic Etruscan, early fifth century B.C.) – the richest and most impressive set of Etruscan jewelry ever found, it comprises a splendid gold and glass pendant necklace, a pair of gold and rock-crystal disk earrings, a gold fibula decorated with a sphinx, a pair of plain gold fibulae, a gold dress pin, and five finger ring. Two of the rings have engraved scarabs. One is decorated with embossed satyr heads while the other two have decorated gold bezels.
A group of Etruscan and Italic armor
Elaborately carved cinerary urns
14 beautifully engraved Etruscan mirrors.

Leon Levy And Shelby White Gallery For The Greek And Roman Study Collection (Prehistoric Greek-Late Roman), located at the Mezzanine Level, features a large display of study material, comprising more than 3,400 works in all media and covering the entire cultural and chronological span of the department’s collection, from the art of prehistoric Greece through late Roman art. Among its noteworthy works are:

A collection of prehistoric Greek vases – given to the Metropolitan Museum in 1927 by the Greek government
A Roman transport amphora – given by the noted underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
Several hundred examples of Roman glass in fantastic shapes and colors, ranging from clear colorless to darkest blue, and from greenish yellow to deep amber.

In lieu of traditional labels inside the display cases, an interactive system, developed specifically for the Metropolitan, allows the information to be kept up-to-date with the latest scholarship on each object. Six wall-mounted computer touch screens, located throughout the study collection, allow visitors to access information about each object on view.

An additional gallery, also on the mezzanine level, is devoted to the display of special exhibitions.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028, USA. Tel: (212) 535-7710 and (212) 570-3951. Fax: (212) 472-2764. E-mail: communications@metmuseum.org. Website: www.metmuseum.org. Open 10 AM – 9 PM. Admission: US$25/adult, children below 12 years old is free.

Metropolitan Museum of Art – Arms and Armor (New York City, New York, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Department of Arms and Armor, one of the Met’s most popular collections, was organized in 1975 with the help of the Russian immigrant and arms and armors’ scholar, Leonid Tarassuk (1925–90). This department focuses on “outstanding craftsmanship and decoration,” including pieces intended solely for display.

Metropolitan Museum of Art – Arms and Armor

The 14,000 objects in the collection, spanning more geographic regions than almost any other department, consists of late medieval European pieces; Japanese pieces from the 5th through the 19th centuries; weapons and armor from dynastic Egypt, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the ancient Near East, Americas, Africa and Oceania; and American firearms (especially Colt firearms) from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first thing you would notice, upon entering this department, is one of the most recognizable images of the museum – the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court (European Armor for Field and Tournament).

The most extensive selection in the United States of rare and finely made sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European armor for men and horses, created for kings and noblemen to use on the battlefield and in tournaments, it features a distinctive “parade” of installed figures on horseback, dressed in elaborately decorated Greenwich armors, from the English Royal workshops founded by King Henry VIII of England, as well as one of Henry’s personal armors, made in Italy and worn by the king in his last campaign against the French at Calais in 1544. Other pieces made for and used by kings and princes includes armor belonging to Ferdinand I of Germany.

The Bashford Dean Gallery (European Arms and Armor, Late Medieval to Renaissance), spanning the development of the art of the armorer from the fourteenth century through the early sixteenth century in Italy, Germany, and other parts of Europe, displays rare and distinctive examples of early field and tournament armor, swords, shields and crossbows.

The Ronald S. Lauder Gallery (European Ceremonial Armor), with works exemplifying artistic styles from the High Renaissance through Mannerism in exuberant etching, embossing, and gold and silver ornament, focuses on lavishly decorated ceremonial armor, shields, and weapons of the sixteenth century from Germany, Italy, and France. Highlights include an ornate armor made for King Henry II of France (embodying the king both as a warrior and a patron of the arts) and a helmet superbly sculpted, in the antique style, by Filippo Negroli.

The Russell B. Aitken Gallery of Firearms (European Hunting and Sporting Weapons), devoted to hunting and sporting weapons as intricate and evocative works of art, highlights the art of the gun maker from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Neo-Classical periods. It features richly decorated European firearms, crossbows and accessories from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century including weapons that belonged to Emperor Charles V and King Louis XIII of France.

The Russell B. Aitken Gallery of European Edged Weapons (European Swords), offering an unparalleled display of finely decorated European swords dating from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century, includes rapiers, hunting weapons, ceremonial swords and presentation swords made of delicate and precious materials. It also features the last royal armor made in Europe, created in 1712 for Luis, prince of Asturias, the five-year-old heir to the Spanish throne.

The Robert M. Lee Gallery (American Swords and Firearms), representing outstanding examples of American silver- and goldsmiths’ work, products of the Industrial Revolution, and American folk art, features American swords and firearms from the Colonial Period through the late nineteenth century. They include silver-hilted swords from the time of the American Revolution; an extensive series of Colt revolvers; firearms lavishly decorated by Tiffany & Company; Kentucky rifles; and engraved Colonial-era powder horns.

The Arms and Armor of Islamic Cultures, representing a wide spectrum of Islamic cultures from India, the Middle East, Turkey, and the Caucasus from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, features rare and beautifully decorated armor and weapons.

The Samurai Swords and Daggers Gallery, showing masterpieces in steel, lacquer, and gold that represent some of the highest achievements of the arts of the Samurai, features a changing selection of Japanese sword and dagger blades; mountings; and fittings from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

Japanese Arms and Armor Gallery

The Japanese Arms and Armor Gallery includes the finest display, outside of Japan, of Samurai armor, edged weapons, equestrian equipment, and accessories from the Kofun Period in the fifth century to the end of the Edo Period in the late nineteenth century. Its centerpiece is the armor of Ashikaga Takauji, Shogun of Japan in the early fourteenth century.

Japanese Arms and Armor

The Arms and Armor from the Stone Age to the Iron Age explores the function, technology, circulation and meanings of arms (to hunt animals, to defend their lives and goods, and to fight enemies), from the Stone Age through the Iron Age, and the particular significance of these tools during their working lives and beyond.

Castle Clinton National Monument (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Castle Clinton National Monument

The 0.4-hectare (1 acre), Medieval-looking Castle Clinton (or Fort Clinton), a circular sandstone fort previously originally known as West Battery and sometimes as Southwest Battery and Castle Garden, was the first American immigration station (predating Ellis Island), where approximately 7.7 million people arrived in the United States from 1855 to 1890. Lying near the northwestern corner of Battery Park, it serves as the park’s main attraction.

Some of the few noteworthy immigrants who passed through here include:

Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) – the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of a typhoid fever pathogen
Nikola Tesla – a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system
Harry Houdini – Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts.
Emma Goldman – anarchist political activist and writer who played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
Joseph Pulitzer – Hungarian-born American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World.
Friedrich Trumpf – German–American barber, businessman, and patriarch of the Trump family. He is the grandfather of Donald Trump.

Check out “Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration”

Built from 1808 to 1811, it has, over its active life, functioned as an administrative headquarters, a paymaster’s quarters and storage area for the United States Army (until 1821), a beer garden, exhibition hall, theater, and public aquarium. Castle Clinton stood slightly two blocks west of where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626 (when New York City was known by the Dutch name New Amsterdam). By 1790, after the American Revolutionary War, Fort Amsterdam was demolished.

Castle Clinton National Monument plaque

Here is the historical timeline of Castle Clinton:

In 1807, a group of three commissioners, including Lt.-Col. Jonathan Williams (a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin) of the United States Army Engineers, submitted a report that recommended the construction of fortifications in New York Harbor.
In 1808, construction of the fort began on a small artificial island just off shore which was connected to Battery Park by a 200-ft. long wood causeway and drawbridge.
In 1811, the fort was completed although modifications continued through the 1820s.
In 1817, West battery was renamed Castle Clinton, its current official name, in honor of New York City Mayor De Witt Clinton (who eventually became Governor of New York).
In March 1822, it was ceded to the city by an act of Congress.
In June 1824, the fort was leased to New York City as a place of public entertainment.
On July 3, 1824, it opened as Castle Garden (a name by which it was popularly known for most of its existence), an open-air structure serving, in turn, as a promenade, beer garden/restaurant, exhibition hall (new inventions such as the telegraph, Colt revolving rifles, steam-powered fire engines, and underwater electronic explosives were demonstrated there), opera house and theater.
That same year, it celebrated the arrival of Gen. Lafayette at the beginning of his year-long triumphal tour of America.
In 1844, a domed roof was placed to accommodate a 6,000-seat theater.
In 1850, to initiate her American tour, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind (the “Swedish Nightingale”), brought to America by by P.T. Barnum (famous for his American Museum full of “freaks” and, later, the famous circus which bears his name), gave two concerts for charity at the castle.
In 1851, European dancing star Lola Montez performed her notorious “tarantula dance” in Castle Garden.
In 1853–54, Louis-Antoine Jullien, the eccentric French conductor and composer of light music, gave dozens of very successful concerts mixing Classical and light music.
On June 17, 1851, the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company notably staged the New York premiere of Gaetano Donizetti‘s Marino Faliero.
On July 20, 1854, the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company also staged the New York premiere of Giuseppe Verdi‘s Luisa Miller at Castle Garden.
During the 1860s, landfill was used to expand Battery Park at which point the island containing the fort was incorporated into the rest of Manhattan Island.
In the first half of the 19th century, most immigrants arriving in New York City landed at docks on the east side of the tip of Manhattan, around South Street.
On August 1, 1855, Castle Clinton became the Emigrant Landing Depot, functioning as the New York State immigrant registration center (the nation’s first such entity).
On April 18, 1890, the S. government assumed control of immigration processing from the state government.
On January 2, 1892, after many unnecessary deaths and scandals over immigration workers cheating and stealing from immigrants, the immigration control was taken over by the federal government and the immigrant registration center was moved to the larger, more isolated Ellis Island
On June 15, 1897, a fire consumed the first structures on Ellis Island, destroying most of Castle Clinton’s original immigrant passenger records (it is generally accepted that approximately 7.7 million immigrants and, perhaps, as many as 10 million were processed during its operation).
On December 10, 1896, Castle Garden was opened as the site of the New York City Aquarium (designed by McKim, Mead & White) which, for many years, was the city’s most popular attraction, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to see its Beluga whale, sea lions and exotic fish. The structure was extensively altered and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained.
In 1941, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Commissioner Robert Moses wanted to tear the structure down completely, claiming that this was necessary to build the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel.
In September 1941, to expedite construction of the tunnel, the city closed the New York Aquarium and moved its fish to other aquariums. The aquarium was not replaced until Moses opened a new facility on Coney Island in 1957.
On August 12, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the legislation making the castle a U.S. National Monument.
In July 1947, the New York City Board of Estimate voted to demolish Castle Garden. However, the Board delayed the demolition for another year to allow the federal government to review the decision.
In May 1948, the Board voted to demolish the castle for the sixth time in as many years.
After another year of discussion, the New York State Assembly reversed its decision to allow the castle to be demolished.
On July 18, 1950, the federal government finally obtained the property after the city deeded the land and castle to the federal government.
In 1956, after funding had been secured, a project to renovate Castle Clinton was announced.
On October 15, 1966, Castle Clinton National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1970s, a major rehabilitation took place, largely restoring it to its original appearance.
In 1975, Castle Clinton was reopened.

Designed by John McComb Jr. and Jonathan Williams, West Battery had a red brick facade, 8-ft. thick walls and was roughly circular in shape, with a radius of approximately 28 m. (92 ft.).

The ticket office

About one-eighth of the circle was left “unfinished,” with a straight wall constructed between the “unfinished” segments.

Intended to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams (the East Battery, on Governors Island, named after Jonathan Williams) with crosshair fire so that the channel between them could be closed, West Battery was armed with 28 cannons, in casemated gun positions, which could fire a 32 pound cannonball a distance of 1.5 miles into the harbor. Although garrisoned in 1812, the fort never saw action in any war.

Currently administered by the National Park Service and now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Castle Clinton is now a departure point for visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, housing an information center and ticket booths for the ferries.

Castle Clinton Museum

In 2009, it recorded nearly 4.08 million visitors. In addition, the fort contains a small history exhibit and occasionally hosts concerts.

Check out “Statue of Liberty National Monument”

Castle Clinton National Monument: Battery Park, 26 Wall St., Manhattan, New York City 10005. Tel: (212) 344-7220.

Grand Central Terminal (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 24 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

The historic and beautiful Grand Central Terminal, a world-famous landmark in Midtown Manhattan and one of the most majestic buildings of the twentieth century, was designed by the architectural firms of Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore and opened to the public on February 2, 1913. On December 8, 1976, it was declared as a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Grand Central Terminal

This massive, granite, Beaux-Arts-style building has both monumental spaces and meticulously crafted detail, especially on its facade. At the top of the building is “The Glory of Commerce,” a cluster of sculptures designed by French sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan, carved by the John Donnelly Company and assembled by William Bradley of Long Island City, Queens. Depicting Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury (representing Wisdom, Speed, and Strength, according to Roman mythology), it was, during its unveiling in 1914, the largest sculpture grouping in the world. The exterior clock, just beneath Mercury, is the largest piece of Tiffany glass in the world, measuring 4 m. (13 ft.) in diameter. The eagles, perched on the corner of the building, actually adorned the previous Grand Central Station, which opened in 1869.

The cavernous interior

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this terminal:

The terminal is one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions, with 21.9 million visitors in 2013.
So much granite was used that the building emits relatively high levels of radiation. At an average dose of 525 mrem/year, a level higher than permitted in a nuclear power facility.
Grand Central Terminal’s 20 hectare (49-acre) basements are among the largest in New York City.
The exact location of M42, a “secret” sub-basement under the terminal that contains the AC to DC convertersused to supply DC traction current to the tracks, is a closely guarded secret and does not appear on maps.
It covers 19 hectares (48 acres) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world.
The Main Concourse was featured in dozens of films, among them Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” to the animated DreamWorks film” Madagascar” as well as scenes from the Avengers, Superman and the X-men.

The cavernous, 84 m. (275 ft.) long, 37 m. (120 ft.) wide and 38 m. (125 ft.) high Main Concourse, the center of Grand Central, is usually filled with bustling crowds and is often used as a meeting place. Since the introduction of ticket vending machines, the ticket booths here now stand unused or have been repurposed.

Bay Balcony

Its interior has 35 restaurants, such as the famous Oyster Bar & Restaurant (the only business that remained from the very day that Grand Central opened in 1913), Shake Shack and various fast food outlets (Starbucks, etc.) surrounding the Dining Concourse on the level below the Main Concourse, as well as delis, bakeries (Magnolia Bakery, etc.), pharmacy (Rite Aid), full-service watch repair shop (Central Watch), fourth floor tennis club (Vanderbilt Tennis Club, opened in the 1960s and now owned by onald Trump), newsstands, a gourmet and fresh food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum, and 65 retail stores (Apple Store, Vineyard Vines, M.A.C. Cosmetics, etc.).

Some of the restaurants and retail stores within the terminal

Right outside the Oyster Bar is the Whispering Gallery. One of the most popular spots in the Terminal, people often crowd this relatively plain-looking space, their faces pressed into the corner as the gallery perfectly transmits sound from corner to corner so much so that you can have a conversation, at the barest whisper, with a friend, hearing each other as though you were standing face to face. The precise arch of the ceiling and the tiled surface caused this architectural anomaly.

The main information booth, in the center of the concourse, has the Main Concourse Information Booth Clock, a 4-faced brass clock, on top. Perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central, it was designed by Henry Edward Bedford and cast in Waterbury, Connecticut. Each of the four clock faces is made from opalescent glass (now often called opal glass or milk glass), though urban legend has it that the faces are made of opal and that Sotheby’s and Christie’s have estimated their value to be between $10 million and $20 million.

Information board

The original blackboard (with arrival and departure information) by Track 36, dubbed a Solari board (after its Italian manufacturer), was replaced, in the main concourse, by an electromechanical display over the ticket windows that displayed times and track numbers of arriving and departing trains.

This New York institution, an indicator of just how busy Grand Central was, once contained rows of flip panels that displayed train information as its many displays would flap simultaneously to reflect changes in train schedules. Today, high-resolution mosaic LCD modules replaced the flap-board destination sign.

The elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling

The starry, stunning and elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling of the Main Concourse, depicting the constellations of the Zodiac (astronomically inaccurate in a complicated way as other constellations are reversed left-to-right), was conceived in 1912 by Architect Whitney Warren with his friend, French portrait artist Paul César Helleu, and executed by James Monroe Hewlett and Charles Basing of Hewlett-Basing Studio, with corps of astronomers and painting assistants working on it. In the late 1930s, the original ceiling was replaced to correct falling plaster. A 12-year restoration effort, completed in autumn 1996, removed tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke from the ceiling and restored to its original design.

Next to the Main Concourse sits Vanderbilt Hall, named for the family of Cornelius Vanerbilt that built and owned the station. Serving as the entrance area from 42nd Street at Pershing Square, it was formerly the main waiting room for the terminal. Today, it is used for the annual Christmas Market and special exhibitions, and is rented for private events.

Jandy with the Main Concourse Information Booth Clock behind him

Grand Central Terminal: 89 East 42nd St. at Park Ave., New York City, New York 10017. Open aily, 5:30 AM – 2 AM. Website: www.grandcentralterminal.com. The Grand Central Market is open Mondays – Fridays, 7 AM -9PM; Saturdays, 10AM – 7PM; and Sundays, 11AM – 6PM..

How To Get There: The closest subway station is at the terminal itself (Grand Central Station) and is serviced by 4, 5, 6, and 7 trains as well as the S shuttle train from Times Square –42nd Street.

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is also a copy editor for two publishing houses; travel writer; blogger; architectural historian; author; concert. movie and musical reviewer (for www.pep.ph); and a motivational speaker.

As a free-lance travel writer, he has, in the past, contributed articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day and Bluprint. He currently writes for Artplus Magazine and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.