Central Park

Completed in 1873, Central Park was designed to provide New York with 341 hectares (843 acres) of rural paradise in what was, at the time, the out-of-the-way northern reaches of Manhattan. Now, located almost in the dead centre of New York due to urban expansion between 59th and 110th streets, Central Park is very much an integral part of the city’s landscape. Apart from being a refreshing area of greenery in the middle of a very dense and busy city, Central Park has a cultural side, with public programmes offered by the Central Park Conservancy, as well as a small zoo, a dairy, fountains and an ice-skating rink. The park has featured in many films over the years and is also home to statues of famous people (real and fictional), including Ludwig Van Beethoven, Alice in Wonderland, Hans Christian Anderson and Robert Burns. It is also home to the Strawberry Fields Memorial, dedicated to the late John Lennon who was shot dead in the city on December 8 1980. The park attracts joggers, rollerbladers and buskers every day, as well as thousands of tourists who come to see the most famous urban park in the USA.