The city of New York has so much to offer regarding history, stunning architecture, public buildings, and museums. The Gilded Age style is present everywhere. Coming from Denmark, I also have a soft spot for red brick buildings; as there are no earthquakes here compared to California, bricks are not a problem. In this entry, you will find recommendations for museums and public places I have visited. See also the Outside of Manhattan and Wishlist entries #8-9 for other suggestions for museums and sites to visit.

One crucial aspect of visiting museums and public places, at least for me, is their gift stores. Particularly in museum stores, I can spend a long time glancing at their display of replicas. Sometimes there are sections with sale items, and at The Met, if you enter from the ground floor, just left of the central staircase, you will enter right into their own outlet store! I have picked up some nifty things there at extreme bargains. Particularly before Christmas, it has turned out very neatly if you need raffles gifts.

Adjacent to Central Park, there are several museums. Near 82nd street East side, The Metropolitan Museum (The Met) focuses on both ancient and modern art. It is a must to visit. The original Egyptian temple (brought in as part of the “save a temple” project from the 1960s when they built the Aswan dam in Egypt). If you cannot make it to Egypt anytime soon, this is the place to go. I was lucky enough to conduct research there as part of graduate school some years ago, and I spent a significant amount of time at the museum. I am partial to ancient objects, and by now, I have focused on their Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Mesoamerican collections as part of my research (at different times). See Wishlist for info on the Cloisters, which has their medieval collections.

The Natural History Museum is also a must, in my mind. I also conducted research here, but not behind the scenes as at the Met, only in the galleries, which disappointingly could have been better lit. Back then, it was in much need of some maintenance. Nonetheless, that was just one wing, and maybe it has improved, and the dinosaurs 🦕 alone are well worth the visit. While there is a suggested entry fee, you can pay what you feel like, so keep that in mind.

Away from Central Park, there are many other museums, such as The Whitney, located at the southern end of the Highline. If you plan ahead, you can get tickets where you pay what you want. I got in one Friday evening for $8. Not being partial to contemporary art, I was primarily interested in their photography exhibition of beautiful portraits of people who lived in Harlem in the 1960s. That exhibition is of course, long gone, but either way, there is a nice view from there, and I recommend you check out their website for ongoing exhibitions.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is located near Wall Street and Ground Zero and is free. The architecture alone makes the museum worth a visit. It is part of the Smithsonian, and while the main NMAI today is in Washington, DC, I highly recommend this ‘wing’ and, not least, their gift store!

In addition to museums, you can visit many public buildings and book tours. I booked a free tour of the Public Library on the corner of 5th and 42nd Street, behind Bryant Park. This is an all-marble building (marble brought in from Vermont and Greece…) built at the beginning of the 1900s. The building stretches two blocks, and its interior’s wood panels, ceiling paintings, and art deco lion water fountains make it absolutely worthwhile to visit. Bonus, the tour afterward offers you a 10% discount at the gift shop! There are also carefully curated exhibitions in some of the various exhibition areas. During my visit, there was a small display of Virginia Woolf notes from her prominent career, as well as a large display of the history of writing, including interesting gadgets and notes, such as the Bill of Rights, Cuneiform tablets, BLM signs, Winnie the Pooh teddies, and a letter opener from Dickens with a handle made with his beloved deceased cat’s paw…

The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral offers the only catacombs in NYC, and you can book a tour of the catacombs by candlelight – it isn’t nearly as romantic as it sounds; nonetheless, the 90 min tour gives you GREAT insight into the history of the Catholics who moved to NYC in different waves, as well as of the fiscal history of building the basilica which includes a remarkable story of a black male hairdresser, and the beginning of Chinatown. See (https://oldcathedral.org/historians-corner). This is not necessarily on a budget, but quite unique.

Located on Wall Street, you will find the Federal Hall National Memorial. It was the first city hall built in 1703, but it was later demolished in 1811 and rebuilt around 1842, as we see it today. This is where the first-ever inauguration of a President of the United States occurred on the balcony of the building on April 30, 1789 (that was George Washington if you were in doubt). Since then, it has been assigned various other duties, including being the treasury or office for the FBI, before the National Parks Services took over and was made a public monument. It is another beautiful piece of architecture, and it is free and open until 5 pm Monday-Friday (closed on the weekend).

Many other historical landmarks are on my Wishlist (see entry #9), including historic houses, the African Burial Ground, and Elis Island… It is nice to know that I will never run out of things to explore - whether in NYC or elsewhere!