Page 246 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

244  NE W Y ORK CIT Y AREA B Y AREA

Upper Manhattan Audubon Terrace contains two
themed museums that are worth
It was in Upper Manhattan that the 18th-century Dutch settlers seeking out. The American
established their farms. Now a suburban area with little of the Academy of Arts and Letters
bustle of downtown Manhattan, it is a good place to escape the was set up to honor American
inner city for some relaxed museum and landmark sightseeing. writers, artists, and composers,
and 75 honorary members from
The Cloisters (see pp246–9) displays a magnificent collection of overseas. On this illustrious roll
medieval art, housed within original European buildings of the are writers John Steinbeck and
period. A piece of New York history is found at the Morris-Jumel Mark Twain, painters Andrew
Mansion in north Harlem: from his headquarters here, George Wyeth and Edward Hopper,
Washington mounted the defense of Manhattan in 1776. and composer Aaron Copland.
Exhibitions feature members’
work. The library (for scholars,
by appointment) has old
manuscripts and first editions.
The Hispanic
Society of America
is a public museum
and library based
upon a personal
collection amassed
by Archer M.
Huntington. There
are extensive
The American Academy of Arts and Letters collections of
Spanish sculpture,
1 Audubon Terrace architect’s cousin, civic bene- decorative arts,
factor Archer Milton Huntington, prints, and
Broadway at 155th St. q 157th St.
American Academy of Arts and whose dream was that it should photographs, with
Letters: (212) 368-5900. Open mid-Mar– be a center of culture and study. changing exhibits
mid-Apr, mid-May–mid-Jun: 1–4pm A central plaza contains statues throughout the Bronze door,
Thu–Sun. ∑ artsandletters.org by his wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt year. The main American
^ Hispanic Society of America: (212) Huntington. gallery, in Spanish Academy
926-2234. Open 10am–4:30pm Tue– Renais sance style,
Sun. Closed public hols. Donations. 8 holds Goya’s famous Duchess
2pm Sat. = ∑ hispanicsociety.org of Alba. The adjacent Bancaja
Gallery contains Joaquín
This 1908 complex of Classical Sorolla y Bastida’s Vision of
Revival buildings by Charles Spain, commissioned in 1911.
Pratt Huntington is named It contains 14 large murals that
for the great naturalist John depict people and life in different
James Audubon, whose estate regions of Spain. Upstairs, there
once included this land. are galleries of painted tiles,
Audubon is buried in the ceramics, Roman mosaics,
nearby Trinity Cemetery. His and rare Spanish lusterware.
grave stone, a Celtic cross, However, the balcony above
bears the symbolic images of the main gallery offers some
his adventurous career: the of the best works: classic
birds he painted, his palette paintings by El Greco, such as
and brushes, and his rifles. Holy Family, and characteristic
The complex was portraits by Velázquez
funded by the and Goya.

Statue of El Cid by Anna Hyatt Huntington at Audubon Terrace

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