Central Park, New York City

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“War is cruelty. There’s no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.”
— William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891)

Augustus St.Gaudens (1848-1907), American sculptor and New York City resident, sculptured the gilded equestrian bronze of General William Tecumseh Sherman in Paris. It was completed in 1903. In 1888 Sherman had sat 18 times, at two-hours stretches, for St. Gaudens to model a bust of the general, who had lived in New York following the Civil War. Charles McKim, of the prominent 19th-century architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, designed the granite pedestal.

Unveiled on Memorial Day of 1903 in Grand Army Plaza, which is the main entrance to Central Park, it is Peace, holding an olive branch, who is leading Sherman. The artist used his mistress, Davida Johnson, as the model for the allegorical figure. The pine branch at the horse’s feet represents the general’s march to the sea through Georgia.

From first proposal to completion of the project 11 years had past. The citizens of New York, under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce of New York State, paid for the work.

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If you want to take a timeout from the hectic streets of the city take a couple of hours of in Central Park. It is just as great as everybody says it is. You loose the feeling of being in a world metropol for a moment. But if you lift your head to look above the treetops chances are, you will se a skyskraper, it is a weird sight.... There are plenty of stuff to do in Central Park; you can go for a walk, work out, chase around trying to find famous movie scenes, go on a horse and carriage tour, visit a childerens playground, there is even a zoo if that sounds tempting or you could just find a bench or a lawn and relax.

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With the Polish nation under the Nazi boot, and then that of the Communists, the King Jagiello Monument took on added significance as a symbol of the proud and courageous Polish people.

King Wladyslaw Jagiello, the Grand Duke of Lithuania united Lithuania and Poland as the leading power of Eastern Europe, after marrying the eleven-year-old Queen Jadwiga of Poland in 1386 and becoming king.

The monument illustrates the moment at the 1410 Battle of Grunwald when the King crossed two swords over his head symbolizing the combined force of the Lithuanian and Polish troops. The swords had been given to the King before the battle by Ulrich von Jungingen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Cross, the adversaries of Poland and Lithuania.

The Mediaeval Battle of Grunwald, known as the First Battle of Tannenberg in Germany, saw Polish and Lithuanian forces, aided by Ruthenians, Czechs and Tatars, defeat the Teutonic Order, which had the support of German, Dutch and English knights.

Under the intense gaze of King Jagiello, the blue stone circle at the edge of Turtle Pond plays host to traditional Polish and Lithuanian folk dancing during the summer.

Jagiello’s cape features the heraldic emblems of Lithuania, a mounted charging knight, and Poland, a white eagle (see photo #5).

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New York City’s Central Park has twenty-nine sculptural works of art. The most impressive is the King Jagiello Monument. It is an equestrian bronze monument of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Wladyslaw II Jagiello. The Monument overlooks the Turtle Pond, across from Belvedere Castle; nearby are the Great Lawn, Cleopatra’s Needle and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Polish sculptor Stanslav K. Ostrowski (1879-1947) created this striking bronze monument to stand at the entrance to the Polish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, which was held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the NYC borough of Queens. On both sides of the reddish brown granite plinth the word ‘POLAND’ is chiseled (see photo #5).

When the Nazis invaded Poland, marking the start of the Second World War, the personnel and equipment related to the Polish Pavilion were forced to remain in the United States, including the King Jagiello Monument, which was placed in storage. In July 1945 it was donated to the City of New York by the King Jagiello Monument Committee, with support from the Polish government in exile, and permanently placed in Central Park with the help of the last pre-Communist Consul General of Poland in New York, Kazimierz Krasicki.

The Chief Consulting Architect for NYC’s Parks, Aymar Embury II (1880–1966), designed the granite pedestal. The inscription on the plinth reads as follows:
King of Poland
Grand Duke of Lithuania
1386 - 1434
Founder of a Free Union of the
Peoples of East Central Europe
Victor Over the Teutonic
Aggressors at Grunwald
July 15 · 1410

A conservation program was carried out on the monument in 1986.

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Here is some info for driving, and the locations of places within the park.

Bike Rental - (at Boathouse) (212) 517 2233
Horse-Drawn Carriages (212) 736-0680
Row Boats (at Loeb Boathouse) - (212) 517-2233
Skating - Lasker Rink (917) 492-3856
Tennis Courts - (212) 280-0205

Central Park covers 843 acres, which is 6% of Manhattan.
Its hours of operation are 6:00 am till 1:00 am.

The Park stretches from Central Park South (59th St.) to 110th St. at the northern end. I Also spans from 5th Ave. on the East Side to Central Park West (8th Ave.) on the West Side.

The Park Drive is closed to vehicular traffic - Weekdays: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm – 7:00 am.
It is also closed to traffic on Weekends: 7:00 pm Friday – 7:00 am Monday
Holidays: 7:00 pm the night before – 7:00 am the day after.

LOCATIONS
Balto can be found at East 67th Street near the East Drive

Alice in Wonderland at East 75th Street just north of Conservatory Water

Mother Goose at East 71st Street at Rumsey Playfield

The Carousel is located mid-Park at 64th Street

Included is a picture of an ice rink in the park. The other picture is of a road race starting in the park.

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A trip to New York is not complete without visiting Central Park, the lungs of the city. The huge park occupies several square meters of space in the middle of Manhattan, stretching from 59th Street to 110th Street. The sloping terrain and curvy roads hide the fact that you are inside a huge metropolis.

There are several distinguished places to visit in the park itself. You can go to ice skating or visit Central Park Zoo. Also the Metropolitan Museum of Arts is located in the park, albeit in a separate enclave facing the Fifth Avenue. Strolling or jogging around the park is also a favourite pastime for busy New Yorkers. During warmer months, there are people playing games or having a picnic. Reading a book in shade of a tree is an excellent option, too.

The General Info section is divided into pages that feature information on the Central Park Conservancy, the Central Park Police Precinct, Park Contact Numbers, Directions on how to get to the park and instructions on how to become a CentralPark.com member.