Places of interest

The first sights which attract visitors are the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island and Manhattan skyline.The statue was given by France(1886) and designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.It is 95m high(from pedestal to the torch)and 225tons weighty.The Lady holds a book with the inscription 4th July 1776, the date of the beginning of the independent United States.The Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of both freedom and United States itself.Nearby is Ellis Island(Isle of tears, Isle of hopes), gateway for more than 12million immigrants between 1892 and 1954.The heart of New York is Manhattan with many skyscrapers.Manhattan has three parts:Midtown with commercial centers, Downtown(the southern tip) with financial centers and Uptown.The financial world is concentrate around Wall Street.It occupies the place of a former wall of New Amsterdam which protected the settlement against Indians and later against the English.Now there are stock exchange(from 1792) and many banks(for example Citibank and Bank of New York).Not far from Wall Street is Federal Hall National Memorial, the site of George Washington inauguration as the first president of the USA(1789).There is World Trade Center, a complex of seven buildings around the 110-story twin towers.They are the highest points in the city(417m, built 1973) and the second highest in the country (after Sears Tower in Chicago).There is City Hall, the mayor´s office and the place for official ceremonies. There is Park Row the center of journalism and theater but now the newspapers and theaters have moved to the vincity of Time Square.The oldest church is St. Paul´s Chapel.It was built in 1766.Nearby is Washington Square which is artistic and intellectual hub of Greenwich Village.Favourite site for labor union gatherings and political demonstration is Union Square.Madison Square Garden is park which was named after James Madison, presidents of United States.There is vast complex called Madison Square Garden for cultural and sporting events(Flashing Meadow).Next to it and below it is large train station