Eleven Tears, designed by landscape architect Ken Smith, honors the 11 American Express employees lost on 9/11. The memorial features an 11-sided, 600-pound quartz “tear” suspended by 11 cables above an 11-sided granite fountain inscribed with each victim’s name and five descriptive words. Water drips like tears over the inscriptions, while a nearby panel shares biographical details. Smith envisioned the design as a metaphor connecting sky and earth.

American Express Company Building

Eleven Tears

 St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was born in 1850 in what is now the Lombardy region of Italy. She immigrated to the United States in 1889 and went on to found more than 60 schools, hospitals and orphanages. She died in 1917. The sculpture depicts Cabrini with two children &mdash; a boy and girl &mdash; sailing on a paper boat. The girl is a reflection of Cabrini when she was young. She is holding a book in one hand, which symbolizes her commitment to education, while her other hand holds firmly onto the boat, signifying her steadfastness in the face of adversities. The boy depicted holds onto his luggage to face what the future will bring and holds on the other hand a wind instrument invented in Italy, which represents the culture immigrants have brought to America. 

Despite her fear of water and her frail constitution, Mother Cabrini&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;sea legs&amp;rdquo; carry her 23 times over the Atlantic allowing her to continue her charitable missions dedicated to immigrants throughout North America and the world. In her life of 67 years she establishes 67 hospitals, schools, and other charitable institutions.    

For many years, the Statue of Liberty greeted immigrants arriving in the U.S. by ship. Ellis Island is the place where many immigrants were processed by immigration officials before they were allowed to enter the country. And the Diocese of Brooklyn is known as the diocese of immigrants.  

In the Five Points neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, Mother Cabrini witnesses the devastating living conditions of the immigrants. She makes it her mission to elevate the human condition and defend the rights of immigrants and needy. Mother Cabrini soon meets with Countess Mary Reid Cesnola to establish an orphanage for young girls. Her husband Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, becomes her strategic advisor and helps her navigate this new modern society. The Cesnola&amp;rsquo;s will remain supporters and friends of Mother Cabrini.  

On April 21, 1889, Mother Cabrini opens an orphanage with the help of Countess Cesnola at 43 East 59th St. and names it House of the Holy Angels. Almost as soon as it is open, she focuses on moving the orphanage to a place that is located closer to immigrant neighborhoods and also capable of accommodating a greater number of children to assist in the physical and spiritual care of all children in need &amp;ndash; orphans as well as children abandoned by immigrant families &amp;ndash; who arrived in America to find far less than the riches that they imagined.    

Mother Cabrini returns to Italy for a short time and within a few months of her return to New York, she purchases a beautiful property in West Park, affectionately called &ldquo;Manresa.&rdquo; Leveraging her upbringing as a daughter of farmers, her creative abilities, and her love for the land she finds a spring of water on the arid property where a well can be drilled. The orphanage is moved from Manhattan to this stable and more favorable location and it also becomes a place for the training of her &ldquo;daughters.&rdquo; With her guidance, the immigrant children under her care are taught English and American customs without losing track of the values and traditions of their homeland.There are many impoverished Italian immigrants in desperate need of medical attention and who are unfamiliar with the language and American customs. Due to Mother Cabrini&rsquo;s administrative and organizational skills, on July 25, 1891 she is implored by Archbishop Corrigan to assume responsibility of a hospital for the Italian immigrants. Mother Cabrini agrees under one condition: that it remains under her direction. Mother Cabrini ends the collaboration with the hospital&rsquo;s owners and establishes a new hospital, with the generous help of the Countess Cesnola and her daughters and the encouragement of Archbishop Corrigan. It is the first hospital of the Missionary Sisters, and is named Columbus Hospital &ndash; eventually renamed Cabrini Medical Center &ndash; open to all, including those who cannot pay. Doctors donate their services free of charge.

On July 15, 1850 in the small town of Sant&rsquo;Angelo Lodigiano in Northern Italy, Frances Cabrini is born as a flock of doves hovers over her family&rsquo;s farmhouse. As Maria-Francesca is born, a dove welcomes her into the world. The Cabrini family gathers in the evenings listening to the stories their father, Agostino Cabrini, who tells tales of missionaries such as Francis Xavier and their heroic deeds. Frances, endearingly nicknamed Cecchina because of her minute stature, develops a lively and creative mind and becomes passionate about missionary work.Frances wishes to follow in the footsteps of the great Jesuit Missionary Saint Francis Xavier whose deeds of plurality, care for numerous ethnic groups, tolerance for diversity and contemporary insight into spiritual globalization influences Cabrini&rsquo;s direction.Cecchina often visits her uncle Don Luigi Oldini, parish priest of Livraga who lives near the Venera River. During one of her visits, Cecchina builds a boat with wax paper from her lunch and fills it with violets, her &ldquo;missionaries&rdquo;. Then sends them off to China on the Venera River to rescue infant girls. She loses her balance and falls into the river and a hand rescues her, which she always believes to have been her guardian angel. Cecchina catches bronchitis after falling into the water and her sister Rosa takes good care of her, putting her back on her path to becoming the cheered advocate of immigrants and the needy around the world.

Mother Cabrini Memorial

At the tip of Battery Park&nbsp;is the Museum of Jewish Heritage. &nbsp;Its&nbsp;mission is to educate people about the 20th century Jewish experience before, during, and after the Holocaust. Over 2 million people have visited since it opened in 1997.&nbsp; The Museum's core exhibition combines archival material with modern media to provide a thoughtful and moving chronicle of history, keeping the memory of the past alive and offering hope for the future.&nbsp;

Across the water, Lady Liberty lifts her lamp and Ellis Island marks the gateway through which millions flowed into this country seeking refuge. The Museum&amp;rsquo;s meaningful location inspires its mission.  CultureNOW

 Sheathed in light granite, the three-story structure is hexagonal. Symbolizing the Museum&amp;rsquo;s commitment to representing Jewish life and culture as it has endured and evolved.  Sidney Druckman

The Museum's mission is to educate diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.  

The Museum&amp;rsquo;s first public art installation features portraits of Holocaust survivors living in New York City. Photojournalist B.A. Van Sise spent the past year photographing survivors who are part of the Museum&amp;rsquo;s Speakers Bureau and who serve as Gallery Educators. Eyewitness was commissioned for&amp;nbsp;Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Museum. The installation consists of 31 photographs of Holocaust survivors (between 4 and 13 feet high) filling the windows of the Museum&amp;rsquo;s fa&amp;ccedil;ade and windows along the Reflection Passage on the Museum&amp;rsquo;s third floor.    

Museum of Jewish Heritage, Battery Park City

Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

David Marwell, the Director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, talks about the completion of the museum's expansion, which was shortly after September 11, 2001. Located five blocks south of the 9/11 attacks, the museum was the closest cultural institution to the Trade Towers site, thus impact on the neighborhood was profound. The expansion opened on the second anniversary of 9/11.

This fragment was given to the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority, by the German Consulate, in recognition of the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Authority's commitment to education through the display of public art. Erected by the East German regime, the Berlin Wall for almost thirty years helped to hold millions of people captive under communism.On November 9, 1989 the Wall was finally brought down by the yearning of the people of East Germany to live free. This segment once stood in downtown Berlin in the area between Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz. It was part of the inner wall designed to prevent East Germans from escaping. Today, it stands as a powerful symbol of the strength of democracy - teaching and inspiring all who visit Kowsky Plaza of the importance of freedom.

Kowsky Plaza

Berlin Wall

City Pier A: Clock Tower, the first WW1 Memorial in USA was installed; the Pier was renovated in 2015 &nbsp;

The New York City Fire Department used the pier from 1960 to 1992 as a fireboat station.

The pier underwent a major renovation in 2010 and expects to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Pier A is the sole historic pier left in Manhattan. A three-story pier head was added in 1900, an in 1919 a clock was installed in the tower in memorial of the soldiers who died in World War I. The clock was the first WWI memorial in the United States.&nbsp;

Pier A

 Resonating Bodies consists of a pair of bronze sculptures resembling giant musical instruments, one resembling a lute and the other a tuba. The sculpture is based on the idea that all physical bodies--including ourselves--are constantly enveloped by various energy forms from heat, light, sound, and gravity to magnetic waves and x-waves. It reflects these forces with a wave-like relief on its surfaces, and invites touching and interaction. 

In front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. he work is set on the ground at the end of the tree-lined walks at the entrance to Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park.

Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, Battery Park

Resonating Bodies

 Taking over its corner of the park with gleeful abandon, Tom Otterness' whimsical sculptural installation entitled The Real World is one of New York's most popular public artworks. Cast in bronze, the sculptures feature Otterness' signature cartoonish figures: animals and people, banks and robbers, laborers and pilgrims, predators and prey, all rubbing shoulders in his delightfully loopy narrative world. There is an entire bustling society in miniature including frogs wrestling over a moat, a tilting tower and diminutive workers rolling giant pennies toward a multi-armed idol. Scattered nearby are a giant fist and feet and a bulbous-nosed creature seated on a bench pondering a bound animal that may be his next meal. Even as Otterness' characters erect their monuments and enact their wile, they remain oblivious to the giant viewer. Mixing levity and discord, biology and social commentary, Otterness' fanciful world is always vividly entertaining. 

The Real World

 Tom Otterness favorite subject is power, politics and money. The Real World is no exception as it sits in the shadow of Wall St and the financial center of New York; the sculpture composed of many small bronze vignettes conveys some of the complexity and playfulness of of this sociopolitical map of NY. 

 This granite retaining wall is an honor roll names of policemen who died while active members of the New York city Police Department. The monument includes a fountain and a reflecting pool. 

Police Memorial

 South Cove is an unusual, meditative recess along the waterfront. Considered one of the country's most significant public artworks, the work is the result of a unique collaboration between environmental artist Mary Miss, architect Stanton Eckstut and landscape architect Susan Child. South Cove encompasses everything from- carefully sited rocks, natural plantings, and atmospheric blue lights along the Esplanade -to the water-racked pilings and the large, arching wooden jetty at the southern corner of the cove that extends into the Hudson like a pier. The jetty gently curves inward, back toward shore, as if in meditation of the city from which it sprung. Overlooking the view is a raised metal tower recalling the prow of a boat or the crown of the Statue of Liberty visible beyond. At once dramatic and serene, South Cove is a place where land and water, nature and metropolis, past and present, gently coalesce. 

  the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy

South Cove Park

South Cove

 Artist Mary Miss, an artist working in the territory between art, architecture and landscape architecture, speaks about her project at the South Cove in Battery Park City- a project she worked on with Susan Child and Stanton Eckstut. The collaboration that created what is today considered one of the country's most significant public artworks begun as "kind of a shotgun marriage" says Mary Miss. 

 South Cove was the result of the Innovative model set up as part of the Master Plan for Battery Park City and includes Stan Ekstut, its architect and master planner as a member of its team with Mary Miss (artist) and Susan Childs (artist). The project covers 3 acres with the goal of making the Hudson River accessible to the public. In fact it was one of the first green spots created along the River as it was transformed from a working waterfront to a more residential/ recreational one. 

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on South Cove, a public art installation west of Battery Place. 

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council devised a summer program to revitalize Lower Manhattan after 9/11 by promoting cultural activity and founded the River to River Festival &nbsp;

Lower Manhattan

River to River Festival

 Together with artist Brian Tolle and landscape architect Gail Wittwer-Laird, 1100 Architect was selected by the Battery Park City Authority to create a memorial commemorating the Great Irish Hunger. On a base of Irish limestone and illuminated glass, the team re-created a rugged landscape comprised of walls with stones from each of Ireland`s 32 counties, abandoned potato fields, and various species of native Irish plants and grasses. From the base`s west side, visitors enter through an ascending passageway that opens into a ruined famine-era cottage. Leaving the cottage, visitors may wander through the fields and overgrown potato furrows. The landscape cantilevers boldly beyond its base, suggesting the courageous journey made by Irish &eacute;migr&eacute;s to America. Within the glass strata of this platform, text is inscribed that recounts the history of the Hunger. 

Passageway connecting the west side to the ruined stone cottage and the roof  Peter Aaron/OTTO.  1100 Architect.

Referred to as&amp;nbsp;An Gorta M&amp;oacute;r&amp;nbsp;in&amp;nbsp;Irish, in which over one million starved to death between 1845 and 1852.  Peter Aaron/OTTO.  1100 Architect.

It opens into a ruined famine-era cottage Peter Aaron/OTTO.  1100 Architect.

Irish Hunger Memorial

 Described as a 'little fragment of Ireland' sitting on top of a thin layer of concrete, Dorthea Basile describes the memorial, its features and the famine it commemorates. 

 Artist Brian Tolle won the competition to design the Hunger Memorial which was supposed to commemorate both the Irish Famine itself and address the larger issue of world hunger. Dorthea Basile tells the story behind the competition. 

 Artist Brian Tolle talks about adding inscriptions to the Memorial which was a requirement of the competition and how he elected to create strata infilled with pieces of glass where the text could be placed behind it or changed some time in the future. He also discussed the court cairns or tomb passages at the great court cairns as the inspiration for the passage he created beneath the hill. 

 Artist Brian Tolle describes the construction of the Memorial, beginning with how he decided to 'live' on the Jobsite. Because it was adjacent to the World Trade Center, he goes on to talk about what happened on September 11th and how it impacted the Memorial. 

 In a piece dedicated to hunger awareness, Artist Brian Tolle talks about his ongoing collaboration with sound artists, hunger organizations, historians and even poets to create changing audio content for the Passage. 

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on The Irish Hunger Memorial, located at the North End Avenue at Vesey Street. 

 David Piscuskas discusses the conception of the memorial, the significance of its site, and the way in which it commemorates the Great Irish Famine and continuing problem of global hunger worldwide. 

 Artist Brian Tolle describes the process of how he got the commission for the artwork and selected his team and began to conceptualize the design. 

 Artist Brian Tolle explains the design process behind the memorial beginning with a competition between the finalist artists. He felt that a figurative piece was not appropriate. Instead, he decided to create a sculpture where the emphasis is on the land itself in its natural state. He wanted to add an authentic historic structure so he began a search for a suitable farmhouse with a historian. He talks about how he was finally able to find a house built in 1820 which the family lived in through the 1960&rsquo;s in Attymass Parish (where the first official death from the Famine occurred). The house was given as a gift from the family that stayed in Ireland to the family that emigrated from Ireland. 

 The new Stuyvesant building was constructed with the intention of embedding time in its structure. Mnemonics was designed to endow the school with a sense of its own history as well as a sense of the accumulated knowledge and multi-cultural history of the world. Over 400 glass cubes are scattered randomly throughout the entire building, from the main lobby to the tenth floor. Some of the cubes contain artifacts and relics that are evidence of geographical, natural, cultural, and social worlds, including water from the Nile River and a piece of the Great Wall of China. There are also individual glass cubes for each graduating class from 1904-2080, thus weaving Stuyvesant's past, present, and future. The 2003 graduating class chose a chunk of rubble from the first bombing of the World Trade Center, which was located near the school. Mnemonics won the Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design in 1989. 

But more importantly for an institution of learning, a sense of the accumulated knowledge and multi-cultural history of the world.  

Collectively, the 400+ blocks of&amp;nbsp;Mnemonics&amp;nbsp;suggest a visual library of the vast knowledge of humankind.  

An additional 88 empty containers are provided, to be filled by each future class of Stuyvesant graduates up to the year 2080.&amp;nbsp;  

Stuyvesant High School

Mnemonics

 The artists Andrew Ginzel and Kristin Jones talk about their sculpture Mnemonics at Stuyvesant High School. Mnemonics is a series of over 400 hollow glass blocks that echo the architecture of Stuyvesant's new building while engaging the students who pass through the building over the years. The project was sponsored by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art project and the New York City Board of Education. 

Established in 1968, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) was charged with developing and maintaining a well-balanced community on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, in place of deteriorating piers that once stood in the Hudson River. The project involved reclaiming the land, replanning the area, and facilitating new construction of a mixed commercial and residential community. The timeline above provides information on key events in Battery Park City’s history.Battery Park City has since achieved worldwide acclaim as a model for community renewal. Through a public/private partnership between BPCA and private developers, this planned community has become a blueprint for successful urban development.

The Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority is a New York State public benefit corporation whose mission is to plan, create, coordinate, and sustain a balanced community of commercial, residential, retail, and park space within its designated 92-acre site on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

New York City’s identity as a global capital of finance and culture is rooted in its origins as a seaport. At the epicenter of over 520 miles of waterfront is Lower Manhattan, where the city started over 400 years ago with the arrival of the Dutch. &nbsp;Since then, the boundary of where land meets the water has changed – in some cases dramatically. Learn from experts what is at risk and what is being done to protect Lower Manhattan from tidal flooding and coastal storms, and to ensure that all New Yorkers continue to have access to the jobs, subways, and infrastructure that thrive in this central hub. With 19 of 28 subway lines, 512,000 riders per day and 10% of all jobs in NYC, resulting in $74 billion in annual GDP (8% of the City’s total), downtown is indispensable to New York’s future. &nbsp;A range of current resiliency initiatives will be reviewed, including East Side Coastal Resiliency, Lower Manhattan Coastal Protection, and Battery Park City flood protection and water management systems. Discussions will also include how changes at NOAA, FEMA and the insurance sector may impact response and recovery to the next climate event, and its impact on the real estate and financial markets.Following the symposium, experts from the NYC Economic Development Corporation, Battery Park City Authority, and The Battery Conservancy will conduct a tour of completed and on-going resiliency work at Battery Park.&nbsp;Speakers:Alexander Mirescu, PhD, Head, Extreme Weather, Zurich Resilience SolutionsPatrick Geelan, North/West Project Director, Battery Park City AuthorityPaula Recart, President, The Battery ConservancyAlexis Taylor, Vice President for Climate Resilience, NYC Economic Development CorporationMolly Bourne, RLA, &nbsp;FASLA, Principal, Mathews Nielsen Landscape ArchitectsModerator: Raju Mann, President and CEO, Battery Park City Authority

Federal Hall National Memorial

The Lower Manhattan Historical Association ("LMHA") holds a parade through Lower Manhattan every year starting 2015.This parade is part of a resurgence of patriotic activities in Lower Manhattan on July 4, after a long hiatus from 1976 to 2015. It is in recognition of the recent growth of Lower Manhattan as one of the City's fastest growing residential neighborhoods and as one of the City's major centers of historical tourism.The parade, which traverses Wall Street and passes many of the historic monuments in Lower Manhattan - is designed to provide marchers and spectators with an understanding of the tremendous historic importance of Lower Manhattan.

Wagner Park Pavilion

At the Water’s Edge: Resiliency for Lower Manhattan

Dr. Alexander Mirescu is a specialist consultant in urban resilience, climate risk, and disaster risk reduction, with more than 18 years of experience across management consulting, global development, multilateral development banks, municipal government, academia, and research. In April 2025, he became Vice President and Head of Extreme Weather at Zurich Resilience Solutions. In this role, he leads a diverse team that works with public- and private-sector clients to identify hazards and risks across portfolios and physical assets. His team brings critical extreme weather and climate risk evaluation tools based on Zurich’s proprietary risk data to market, along with resilience-focused, on-site risk engineering services. Through strategic partnerships and sector-specific climate risk expertise, Dr. Mirescu’s work highlights the importance of due diligence and the return on investment of resilience—key drivers for understanding the value of adaptation in operations, communication, and practice.

Alexis Taylor serves as Vice President of Climate Resilience at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) where she is responsible for leading a portfolio of resilience and waterfront projects. These include neighborhood-scale resilience projects such as the Financial-District &amp; Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan; resilient waterfront greenway planning and design; and climate risk assessment tools to understand multi-hazard climate impacts across NYCEDC assets and inform future planning priorities. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, she previously worked for the Bureau of Flood Resilience, Engineering and Construction at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and was a Senior Project Manager with Rebuild by Design.

Molly Bourne is a landscape architect with a passion for environmentally-focused design and its impact on society. With over two decades of experience, she has successfully led award-winning teams on diverse projects, from waterfront parks to urban revitalization initiatives. Molly's professional dedication lies in driving public space conversations, addressing climate change, repurposing industrial sites and shorelines, and safeguarding pollinators. Alongside her design work, Molly teaches at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. She holds a BA from the University of Florida. Some of her key projects include the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, Governors Island Park and Public Space, Waterline Square, South Bronx Greenway Master Plan and Implementation, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center Master Plan and Implementation, and the Renovation of Roberto Clemente State Park.

Patrick Geelan serves as Project Executive for the North/West Resiliency Project at the Battery Park City Authority, where he oversees the planning and delivery of critical infrastructure investments designed to enhance climate resilience and protect Lower Manhattan from future flood risks. Previously, he served as Director of Project Delivery for the Community Reconstruction and Infrastructure Program at the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR), leading the implementation of large-scale resilience and recovery projects across New York State. Educated in Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and in Engineering Physics-Systems at Providence College, Patrick brings extensive experience in the design and implementation of energy efficiency programs and capital projects for organizations including the 9/11 Memorial &amp; Museum, the U.S. General Services Administration, Verizon, and AT&amp;T.

Paula Recart is President of The Battery Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that operates, programs, and maintains The Battery, the 25-acre park at the southern tip of Manhattan. She served as North America director at Ashoka from 2007 to 2020, was subsequently recruited by Frank McCourt as chief impact officer of McCourt Global, and conceived and launched a major public engagement initiative at The Shed, where she serves on the board of directors. Recart was educated in Chile and spent decades in the media industry there, nine years as editor-in-chief of PAULA magazine.

Raju Mann is an urban planner who has worked on planning, housing, parks, and infrastructure challenges for almost 20 years in New York City. He joins BPCA from design and engineering firm Arup, where he was an Associate Principal and the City Planning Leader for the East Coast working on transportation, housing policy, and climate adaptation projects. Prior to Arup, Raju was the Director of Land Use and Deputy Chief of Staff for the New York City Council, where he led a team of planners and lawyers working with Council Members, City agencies, and communities to develop planning strategies for neighborhoods across New York City.Raju grew up in Morningside Heights and now lives in Brooklyn. He received his BA in Philosophy from Columbia University and his MA in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. He is a board member of MoMA PS1 and on the advisory board of the New York Housing Conference.

Lecture by Dr.&nbsp;Alexander&nbsp;Mirescu

Alexis&nbsp;Taylor&nbsp;and&nbsp;Molly&nbsp;Bourne&nbsp;speaking&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;symposium, At&nbsp;the&nbsp;Water’s&nbsp;Edge:&nbsp;Resiliency&nbsp;for&nbsp;Lower&nbsp;Manhattan.

Patrick&nbsp;Geelan&nbsp;speaking&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;symposium, At&nbsp;the&nbsp;Water’s&nbsp;Edge:&nbsp;Resiliency&nbsp;for&nbsp;Lower&nbsp;Manhattan.

Paula&nbsp;Recart&nbsp;speaking&nbsp;at&nbsp;the&nbsp;symposium, At&nbsp;the&nbsp;Water’s&nbsp;Edge:&nbsp;Resiliency&nbsp;for&nbsp;Lower&nbsp;Manhattan.

RSVP

With Big Screen at The Battery, for two weeks this summer, The Battery becomes Lower Manhattan’s front porch— a place where World Cup fans, movie lovers, families, and visitors come together for free outdoor experiences on the lawn under the stars.&nbsp;From July 5–19, join us on the waterfront for 14 FIFA World Cup matches, outdoor movie nights, live performances, family activities, and special events celebrating New York’s culture and history. Bring a blanket, enjoy food and beverage vendors, and gather picnic-style on the lawn with views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. All events are free and open to the public. Registration is highly recommended, as capacity is limited.

Canyon of Heroes

Wall Street has been synonymous with American finance - and has defined New York to the rest of the world - since May 17, 1792, when twenty-four brokers convened under a buttonwood tree and agreed to regulate the stock market. Until the exchange itself went public in 2006, members were limited to 1,366 seats, which traded for upward of $1 million each (depending on market conditions, they might be priced higher or lower than the going rate for taxi medallions).By the end of the nineteenth century, trading volume was increasing exponentially. It tripled between 1896 and 1899 alone, then doubled by 1901. To accommodate the growth, the Stock Exchange commissioned a neoclassic headquarters designed by George B. Post, which opened at 18 Broad Street in 1903. The trading floor, half the size of a football field, measured 109 by 140 feet under a 72-foot-high ceiling. The 90-ton pediment, designed by John Quincy Adams Ward (he also sculpted the statue of George Washington across the street at Federal Hall), featured a 22-foot figure flanked by representations of Agriculture and Mining and Science, Industry and Invention, and waves symbolizing the exchange's global maritime scope. It is titled Integrity Protecting the Works of Man. Apparently, integrity was insufficient protection. The weighty marble figures, ravaged by pollution and flaws, were replaced in 1936 by lead-coated replicas.A paper strip running through a stock ticker (the name reflected the sound the machine made) produced ticker tape. Introduced in New York in 1867 by Edward A. Calahan, who worked for the American Telegraph Co., it has been described as the earliest medium of digital electronic communication. It would endure for fully a century, elating and terrifying brokers glued to their tickers around the country and providing fodder for the distinctive confetti that distinguished New York's ticker-tape parades up the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Broadway. The original machines used Morse code; Thomas Edison's ticker, developed in 1869, printed out one alphanumeric character per second. (Nowadays, trading algorithms depend on information flashed in milliseconds.)Arguably, Wall Street's worst moment was Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Shouts of "sell" drowned out the opening bell. In the first half hour alone, three million shares were traded; $2 million in value evaporated. When the market closed at 3:00 P.M. that day, it had lost $14 billion (over $300 billion in today's dollars). A record 16.4 million shares had been traded, recorded on fifteen thousand miles of ticker tape that registered a net loss in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 12 percent. The last ribbon of ticker tape, which could accommodate 285 words a minute, ran hours late. The final two words, appropriately enough, were "Good Night." The market would not recover to its pre-crash level until 1954.&nbsp;TEXT FROM SAM ROBERTS 101 OBJECTS&nbsp;

 Some of the world's greatest triumphs have been celebrated right here in Lower Manhattan with spectacular ticker-tape parades up Broadway. From moon-walkers to sports stars, from politicians to performers, from war veterans to aviation aces, we have honored the nation's best with these tributes in our skyscraper canyons. As a result, Broadway has long been known as the Canyon of Heroes. The Downtown Alliance has commemorated all 204 of these ticker-tape parades by actually marking the Canyon of Heroes. As we repaved the sidewalks along the entire length of Broadway from the Battery to City Hall, we installed black granite strips at regular intervals in the sidewalks on either side of the roadway. Each strip will be marked in stainless-steel letters with the name and date of each historic parade, from the first ticker-tape parade in 1886 to celebrate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty to the fall 2009 parade to honor the World Series Champions, the New York Yankees. A number of blank strips have been included as place holders for the commemoration of heroics yet to come. 

As part of the strategic framework Five Principles for Greenwich South, Market Park proposes an urban amenity above the multi-lane Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. A hole in the heart of Greenwich South, the tunnel entrance divides the neighborhood, prohibiting safe pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and preventing a natural connection between the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial and Battery Park. Market Park would transfer unused air rights over the tunnel entry to adjacent buildable sites. By accessibly bridging over the tunnel entry, the park and public market establishes a sense of place and unites the neighborhood.

This bronze plaque, dedicated in 1955, is a memorial to the poet and patriot Emma Lazarus, who famously penned the sonnet "The New Colossus" that is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land. Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of exiles, from her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

 SeaGlass Carousel demonstrates an innovative collaboration of art and design to create a distinctly contemporary, ecologically themed environment for The Battery in Lower Manhattan. Inspired by the ocean's beauty and The Battery`s history as the first home of the New York Aquarium, SeaGlass is an aquatic carousel, featuring huge fish rather than the usual horses and chariots. The project transforms the traditional ride structure into an instrument of the future, employing underground mechanisms to eliminate the need for a center post - allowing clear views across the pavilion and into the park's lush gardens and landscape. In addition, unlike traditional carousels, SeaGlass riders sit inside the figures. This design makes the rider feel a part of the fish--even &ldquo;becoming&rdquo; the fish. The scale of the figures, from 6 feet to 13 feet high, adds to the wonder and grandeur of the experience. 

 The Upper Room is a collonaded court marking the entrance to the Esplanade at Albany Street. This self-contained sculptural environment suggests a contemporary re-imagining of an ancient Egyptian temple. Inside, it features a long table adorned with chess boards, twelve stools, and an altar-like pergola sheltering an iconic palm tree. 

Battery Park City

 The sculpture of Ulysses dons a helmet-mask, which simultaneously shows and hides weakness and strength in the hero. 

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park

 Resting directly on the ground a calculated distance from each other, the two eyes occupy considerable volumes of space between and around them which the viewer is invited to fill in with his or her own imagination, since the eyes are separated from any suggested surrounding physiognomy. Carved in granite, the pupils are not inset but suggested by large polished nodules and an integral part of the whole granite "eyeball."  

 Porphyrios's Pavilion is a classical structure that provides a cool place for shade, picnics or rest. It has Doric columns and flat roof; the park and river are on one side and the monolithic glass and steel apartment buildings on the other. According to the Battery Park's website, "The Pavilion acts not only as a waypoint, but perhaps as a metaphorical stepping stone on mankind's journey from primitive to modern." 

 This ensemble of a shrunken street lamp, circular elements, and a throne-like seat is made of granite and a pair of slatted wood deck chairs. This piece is an eccentric public recreation deck that marks a witty reflection of their urban environment. 

Located on the playground of Public School 89

Located on the playground of PS/IS 89, the colors and patterns of the mosaic panels are based upon characters of children's stories- the blue and white checkered dress of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, the black jumper of Eloise, the red and white of Cat in the Hat, the pink striped belly of Piglet and others. Parents and children alike have read these stories countless times and consciously (or unconsciously) the colors and patterns of these characters have become etched into their imaginations. The abstract designs become illustrations on a large and exaggerated scale full of mystery, exuberance and playfulness.The stories are - Cat In the Hat, Little Prince, Bert, Dorothy, Piglet, Eloise, Harry

Previous Location

Current Location

A Venetian immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and is regarded as the first Italian settler in what is now New York State.&nbsp;Pietro was born on the island of Malamocco in 1608 at the height of Venice’s commercial power. Pietro was a member of the influential and powerful Alberti family and the son of the secretary of the Ducal Treasury, At the end of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 -1648), which resulted in eight million deaths from military engagements, famine and plague, Pietro decided at the age of 27 to seek a new life in the New World.Pietro signed on as a merchant seaman and sailed on July 10, 1634. and arrived in New Amsterdam on June 2, 1635. In the New World, Pietro became Peter. Four years later, he secured the deed of ownership for tobacco land from the Director General and Council of New Amsterdam. In 1642, he married a woman named Judith Manje and had seven children. The family lived in a home on Broad Streetand later moved to Alberti’s plantation property on Long Island (now Fort-Green, Brooklyn). They farmed the 100 acres until Pietro and Judith were killed in an Indian raid on November 9, 1655.

Battery Park

 This monument honors the valiant sailors of the Norwegian merchant marines and navy who lost their lives in the cause of the Allies during World War II. Many of the thousands of seamen who served and paid the supreme sacrifice considered New York to be their principal port of call, and during the War used it as a home port. 

The US Marine Corps Flagstaff Memorial erected in honor of the Marines&nbsp;

 The Fort George Memorial was dedicated in 1817 to honor one of the bastions that protected the young city's harbors and is the oldest memorial in the park. The small concrete slab has been grown over and rediscovered twice and the fun is in trying to find it. 

 Although they do not have human features, Jim Dine's Ape &amp; Cat exude the sort of civility and tenderness to which many urbanites aspire. Made of cast bronze, the figures are at once amusing, allegorical, and unabashedly romantic. The work derives from a series of Dine's 1990s drawings and sculptures that follow the relationship of this unlikely but adoring couple. Their shared placement along the promenade lends a sense of intimacy, joyousness, and unexpected grace to the site. 

Conrad Hotel

 Sol LeWitt`s new wall drawing for the expansive atrium is the most dramatic of the commissioned artworks at the Conrad Hotel (formerly the Embassy Suites). LeWitt`s Loopy Doopy (Blue and Purple) takes his wall-drawing to a monumental scale. Rising 13 stories above the atrium level and filling this grand space with vibrant purple and royal blue, LeWitt`s Loopy Doopy gracefully transforms the atrium into a swirling aquarium of twisting color. 

 Rector Gate is a festive archway marking the intersection of Rector Place and the Hudson River Esplanade. Rising 50 feet high, the gate is inspired by Russian Constructivism and Science Fiction. This artwork brings the romantic grandiosity of New York's early skyscrapers and engineering feats to a human scale. 

 The monument depicts an inter-racial three-figure group in which two soldiers in fatigues and bearing rifles support a wounded soldier, and is intended to honor those from the Coast Guard who served their country during World War II (1941-1945). Thomas, a non-professional sculptor, was a painter and combat veteran, who studied at the American Academy in Rome and with Paul Manship at the National Academy of Design in New York City. He based his composition on a rescue he had witnessed at the Luzon beachhead. Relying on a sketch which Thomas submitted, the United States Coast Guard, which maintains an administrative facility just south of Battery Park, and which until the late 1990s had a base on Governors Island in New York Harbor, commissioned the sculpture. 

 Engraved on the stones are Seamus Heaney's poems from "Death of a Naturalist," and Mark Strand's poetry entitled, "Continuous Life." 

World Financial Center

 Projecting from the glittering vault of the Winter Garden and the base of the World Financial Center to the marina of the North Cove and the Hudson waterfront, World Financial Plaza is the center of Battery Park City. It is also the result of a singular collaboration between artists Siah Armajani and Scott Burton, architect Cesar Pelli, and landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg. From the earliest stages, these individuals joined forces to create a welcoming, celebratory public landscape that would look to the past and future alike. The design spans from th egently curving contour of the cove to Burton's stone seating and the fountains girding the plaza. Wooden benches tucked along tree-lined pathways provide a more secluded setting. Inset into the metal railings overlooking the cove are quotes from poets Walt Whitman and Frank O'Hara celebrating the exhilarating spirit of New York City. At once formal and congenial, World Financial Plaza is an ebullient stage set for New York City at the dawn of the 21st century. 

Located adjacent to Admiral George Dewey Promenade.

These medallions were enlarged and recast from their 1898 originals. The donors were eighteen civic, veterans', and historical associations, under auspices of American Battle Monuments Commission. It commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Manila Bay. The replica medallions are based on French's originals.

 Commissioned by the American Merchant Mariners` Memorial, Inc., this memorial was conceived in 1976. In 1988, after an extensive competition, the artist Marisol Escobar (b. 1930), known as Marisol, was chosen to develop her design. Situated off-shore from the north end of Battery Park and just south of Pier A, the monument stands on a rebuilt stone breakwater in the harbor. The bronze figural group and boat are based on an actual historical event; during World War II, a Nazi U-boat attacked a merchant marine vessel, and while the mariners clung to their sinking vessel, the Germans photographed their victims. Marisol developed a series of studio sketches from this photograph, then fashioned a clay maquette as her winning design proposal for the monument. 

The Castello Plan, titled "Picture of the City of Amsterdam in New Netherland" in Dutch, is an early map of Lower Manhattan's Financial District. Created in 1660 by Jacques Cortelyou, a surveyor in New Amsterdam (which later became New York City), it is now preserved at the New York Public Library. An unknown draughtsman made a copy of the map around 1665-1670. Cartographer Joan Blaeu included it in an atlas sold to Cosimo III de' Medici. The map resurfaced in Italy in 1900 at the Villa di Castello, receiving the name "Castello Plan" in 1916. It is documented in Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes' survey and honored with this monument in Lower Manhattan.

 This sculpture depicts the Italian explorer and navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano (c. 1485-1528). He is known for being the first European to have entered New York Bay. Verrazzano wrote a journal based on his travels across the ocean. This document later served to help other explorers such as Henry Hudson. 

This work is a grove of fifteen cedars with an inscribed horizontal marker in the ivy bed.&nbsp;Inscription:&nbsp;Jerusalem Grove to the people of New York City from the people of Jerusalem&nbsp;Teddy Kollek, Mayor Jerusalem&nbsp;Abraham D. Beame, Mayor New York City&nbsp;July 1976

This 1903 statue by Jonathan Scott Hartley (1845&ndash;1912) depicts the esteemed Swedish-American engineer and inventor John Ericsson (1803&ndash;1889), who helped to revolutionize military-maritime technology with his ironclad warship, the Monitor.The Monitor was Ericsson`s response to the Confederacy`s intent in early 1861 to ironclad its warship, the Merrimac. Ericsson built the Monitor at the Continental Iron Works foundry in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; its engine and machinery were fabricated in Greenwich Village at the Delamater Iron Works. He died on March 8, 1889, in New York City. Less than four years after his death, the distinguished sculptor Johnathan Scott Hartley was commissioned by the state to create a larger-than-life bronze portrait of Ericsson, which was dedicated April 26, 1893 in Battery Park. The pedestal was designed by architect Frank Wallis.Ten years later the sculptor, dissatisfied with his first version, crafted a modified statue, cast at the local Roman Bronze Works, and dedicated on August 1, 1903, a day after the centennial of Ericsson`s birth. In 1939 a monument to Ericsson and the Monitor was unveiled in McGolrick Park, Brooklyn. The sculpture in Battery Park depicts the bearded Ericsson holding a boat model in his hand. The pedestal features inset bronze bas-reliefs, which illustrate significant naval battles involving the Monitor and Princeton, as well as an array of Ericsson`s mechanical inventions. Over time the monument suffered extensive damage, the result of weathering, vandalism, and even a fire. In 1996 the sculpture was conserved by Parks` monuments crew, and as part of overall improvements to Battery Park, the sculpture is slated to be moved from its present location to a more prominent site near a perimeter entrance.

Often considered the&nbsp;'Forgotten War', The memorial, dedicated in 1991, &nbsp;is notable as one of the first Korean War memorials erected in the United States.&nbsp;The artist won an invited competition.&nbsp; After much contemplation about the meaning of war memorials, Mac Adams, the artist decided to&nbsp;create an Anti- War&nbsp;memorial or a "Peace Memorial'.&nbsp; Inspired by a poem that speaks of death as absence and loss, the memorial features a 15-foot-high black granite stele with the shape of a Korean War soldier cut out of the center. Also known as “The Universal Soldier,” the figure forms a silhouette that allows viewers to see through the monument to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island. At 10 am every July 27th, the anniversary of the time in 1953 in New York when hostilities ended, the sun lines up so as to shine through the memorial and illuminate a commemorative plaque on the ground.One of the three tiers at the base of the monument is decorated with mosaic flags of countries that participated in the United Nations-sponsored mission. The plaza’s paving blocks are inscribed with the numbers of dead, wounded, and missing in action from each of the 22 countries that participated in the war.&nbsp; &nbsp;Almost half a million people were wounded in the war and nearly 140,000 died.&nbsp;&nbsp;

 This nearly ten-foot-tall granite stele at the northwest corner of Battery Park by Castle Clinton was designed by noted architect Henry Bacon (1866&ndash;1924). The monument and its gilded inscription commemorates the Walloon Settlers, a group of 32 Belgian Huguenot families who joined the Dutch in 1624 on the ship Nieu Nederland (&ldquo;New Netherland&rdquo;) to colonize New Amsterdam, in what is now called the island of Manhattan. Architect Bacon also designed Washington, D.C.`s Lincoln Memorial (1911-22) and Brooklyn`s Metropolitan Pool (1922). 

Italian physicist and inventor Guglielmo Marchese Marconi (-1874–1937) carried out the first successful experiments of wireless technology in 1895 in Bologna. For his efforts in the field of wireless telegraphy, Marconi shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Karl Braun in 1909. His invention revolutionized communications worldwide.

This monument was commissioned in 1915 by public subscription under the auspices of the Wireless Operators. Once located near the former harbor barge office, and now situated between the park’s central lawn and the East Coast Memorial, this monument honors those wireless operators who have lost their lives at sea while performing their duties.

Perimeter of park on State Street between Bridge and Pearl Streets

In 1892, the ancient cannon was dug up at Exchange Alley and Broadway during construction.Exchange Alley had been used as the path to British fortifications informally known as “the Oyster Pasty” (1695-1783) likely because of its shape or because of the popularity of Oysters as a delicacy and thus, must have acquired the name Oyster Pasty Lane or Oyster Pasty Alley. In the 1800s, both Garden Street and Oyster Pasty Alley became Exchange Place and Alley.But before it was moved, the cannon was mounted along what is now the sidewalk opposite the Custom House, between the years 1695 and 1783.The cannon was relocated to Battery Park (close to the Bowling Green control station) in 1914, when it was donated to the City of New York by William Henry Mairs and the Children of the City History Club.NOTE: Oysters, in beds in the surrounding rivers and bays of Manhattan and Long Islands, were a prime means of sustenance for the Lenape Indians and then New York City residents for decades after independence. While the British controlled NYC, this was also the case and a common British delicacy is the “pasty,” an empañada-like treat that featured a pastry crust with various meat, cheese or vegetable filling. Thus, “pasties” were consumed by the tonnage in the Manhattan of that era. However, the alley wasn`t directly named for the food. &nbsp;

This monument commemorates the arrival of first Salvation Army unit in New York City in 1880. The monument replaces the 1927 original, since it was stolen in 1942.

 Sculptor Luis Sanguino celebrates the diversity of New York City and the struggle of immigrants in this heroic-sized bronze figural group. The sculpture depicts figures of various ethnic groups and eras, including an Eastern European Jew, a freed African slave, a priest, and a worker. The figures` expressive poses emphasize the struggle and toil inherent in the experience of the immigrant or dislocated person. 

This is a monumental granite flagstaff pedestal honoring the first Dutch settlers.West Side: "On the 22nd of April 1625 Amsterdam Chamber of the West Indies Company decreed the establishment and the creation of the adjoining farms the purchase of the Island of Manhattan was accomplished in 1626. Thus was laid the foundation of the City of New York."Front: "In testimony of ancient and unbroken friendship this flagpole is presented to the city of New York by the Dutch People 1926."

South side of State Street between Pearl and Water Streets.South wall of building.

 This monument honors engineer John Wolfe Ambrose (1838&ndash;1899), whose vision and persistence resulted in the deep sea channel to New York harbor, which improved the viability of the port of New York, making New York City the heart of commerce in the United States. The channel is named in his honor. In the 1950s, the monument was relocated to the south wall of the concession building in lower Battery Park, but in November 1990 the head of the statue was stolen. Plans are underway to recreate the sculpture and render the monument more accessible for viewing.

In Battery Park, south end of the park, east of Dewey Promenade

East Coast Memorial

President John F Kennedy dedicated the East Coast Memorial.&nbsp;

This memorial honors the 4,601 missing American servicemen who lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean while engaged in combat during World War II. &nbsp;Most of them died during the Battle of the Atlantic where the Allies were trying to protect their shipping lanes from the Germans. &nbsp;The monument consists of a large, paved plaza punctuated by eight massive 19-foot tall gray granite pylons (four each on the southern and northern sides) facing the Statue of Liberty onto which are inscribed the names, rank, organization and state of each of the deceased. &nbsp;On the eastern side of the plaza a monumental bronze eagle, sculpted by Albino Manca and set on a pedestal of polished black granite, grips a laurel wreath over a wave--signifying the act of mourning at the watery grave.&nbsp;

 Teardrop Park is a 1.8-acre public park in lower Manhattan that transcends its small size, shady environment, and mid-block location through bold topography, complex irregular space, and robust plantings. Teardrop's design and construction were coordinated with the development of four surrounding apartment buildings, each ranging from 210 feet to 235 feet in height. In the development of Teardrop Park, sustainability was not merely a goal, but rather an organizing principle that influenced everything from material selection to contractor practices. Based on decades-long research into urban soils and non-toxic plant maintenance, environmental aspects of the park's design include fully organic soils and maintenance regimes that don't rely on pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. Treated and recycled graywater from the adjacent LEED Gold-rated Solaire Building and stormwater runoff from the site are captured in an underground storage pipe, supplying all of the park's irrigation needs. There are two artworks integrated into the design. Ben Ruben's sound piece 'Mumeration', and Ann Hamilton &amp; Michael Mercil's 'Ice Walls'. These consist of three bluestone sections evoke a sense of geologic flux and transition between present time (now) and past time (then). While recalling a natural history of the Hudson River Valley, these sections might also recall the processes of quarrying, or of masonry. But this stonework neither comes from nor quite belongs to any of those things. And because it was never any other built thing, the stonework is not a ruin. Lift, thrust, fold, fault, drop, scrape, erode&mdash;our rendering of geologic incident at Teardrop Park is not anti-form, but is also not yet, or not quite form. It is a becoming of, or coming to, form that makes real our relation to landscape as well as our relation to art.. Water flowing on it runs down in the summer and forms icicles in winter. 

 Located in the entrance lobby of Stuyvesant High School, Tabula consists of thirty panels of differently colored and stratified pieces of etched marble. The panels are etched with drawings that refer to systems of knowledge, including botany, astronomy, mathematics, language, and exploration. The marble used comes from quarries in Brazil, India, Spain, Africa, Italy, and the United States, creating a "dialogue of matter." Said Stuart, "Tabula is about quest." 

BIG SCREEN AT THE BATTERY

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The formal figure of the structure becomes increasingly more fluid and dispersed away from this centre as it opens up onto the immediate landscape.&amp;nbsp;

Peter Minuit Plaza&amp;rsquo;s 1.3 acres were remapped from street to parkland, incorporated into The Battery, and reconceived as a gracious foyer to Whitehall Terminal, serving the Staten Island Ferry, following the destruction by fire in 1991 of the original (1906) terminal.&amp;nbsp;  

which hides and reveals weakness and complexity in the face of the warrior-hero  

Battery Park City Authority

Kimberlae Saul, AIA, Vice President Planning &amp; Design, Battery Park City Authority speaking at 'It Happene﻿d Here - Lower Manhattan: Preparing for the Future - At the Water's Edge - Resiliency for Lower Manhattan'

Battery Park City Authority

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