New York is an old city, still thriving and bustling more than 300 years since it was founded as New Amsterdam, a major cultural hub of the United States and the world. With such a long and storied history, it’s no wonder that there are more than a few museums you can visit to learn about its history, from the generic to the esoteric.
The American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History may not come to life when the sun goes down, but it is still impressive during the day—it’s the largest natural history museum in the world, after all. Made up of 28 interconnected buildings, the AMNH contains 45 permanent exhibits, as well as a number of special exhibits featuring various displays and phenomena.
The exhibits range from standard display halls to specialised rooms like the Samuel J and Ethel LeFrak Theatre on the first floor, and the Hayden Planetarium Space Theatre, which projects incredibly realistic images of space onto the ceiling and walls. If you ever had any questions about how the world works, AMNH is one of the best places to get your answers.
National Museum of the American Indian New York
One of three facilities of the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of the American Indian New York serves as a permanent museum, where part of the collection of the museum’s founder, George Gustav Heye, is on display. The exhibits explore the diversity of Native Americans, from as far north as the Arctic and as far south as Patagonia, and all the regions in between. Along with performances, symposia and other programmes, a visit to the museum can be both educational and eye-opening, a great way to spend an afternoon.
The Museum of the City of New York
Founded in 1923 to preserve and present the history of New York City and its people, the Museum of the City of New York lives up to its goal of curating the long history of this city. From its newest permanent exhibition, New York at its Core—which details about 400 years of history through hundreds of objects and photographs, and features several key figures of New York—to screenings of Timescapes, the Museum’s award-winning 28-minute short documentary of New York City narrated by Stanley Tucci, talks and activities. Coming here means leaving with a much better understanding and knowledge of New York City, as a land, a city and a people.
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, known colloquially as the Tenement Museum, is a National Historic Site, housed in two historical tenement buildings at 97 and 103 Orchard Street. Together, these buildings have been home to thousands of people from various nations, between the 1860s and 1930s.
This museum’s main focus is promoting tolerance as well as an insight into the unique immigrant experience of immigrants to America, and visitors can only visit with a guided tour, which will take them through the two buildings as well as a walking tour around the neighbourhood. As the poet Walt Whitman once said, America is a “teeming nation of nations”, and New York, as a natural port, has always been central to the story of immigration in America, so it’s fitting to be able to learn more about it in a neighbourhood that has been the first home in America to many an immigrant over hundreds of years.
The National September 11 Memorial and Museum
Few people can think of New York and not think about the 9/11 plane crashes that shook the nation and the world. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is also known as the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, which is dedicated to the 2,977 people who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the six people who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Located at the World Trade Center Site, the former location of the destroyed Twin Towers, the memorial is made up of two reflecting pools set in the foundations of the Twin Towers, with the names of those who lost their lives inscribed in bronze plaques, amidst a forest of swamp white oak trees. There also exists an underground museum, whose exhibits explores the implications of 9/11—from documenting their impact then, to their continuing significance up till the present day.
These museums are only a select handful of the many that are located in the culturally-rich and extensive New York City, but tell of tales as old as time. If you're an art aficionado, head over to our other article for a rundown of the Big Apple's best art museums.
