On this trip, I went to a section of Central park know as “The Ramble”. The Ramble is a 38 acre woodland area, which is between 73rd St and 79th St. The area has a maze design to give people the feel that they are in nature. When inside the Ramble, I almost feel like I am not in New York City, rather I am in Upstate New York where there is more nature and woodlands. The abundance of trees and plants blocks the view of the city and any sign of an urban environment. For anyone who needs a break from the city life but can’t leave, The Ramble is perfect place for them to visit and explore. Right across from the Ramble is another section of Central Park called the Bethesda Terrace. This section as we see it today includes a large water fountain and a small tunnel with art inside, which is friendly for all ages to visit. However, a few decades ago this area was not the same place. The atmosphere back then was tense and dangerous, with many crimes taking place there. It shows how far this park has come and the advancements the city made to make central park more friendly to the public. Now there is row boats in the lake, biking/jogging roads, and playgrounds scattered around the park that draws the interest of everyone of all ages in the general public, making Central Park what it is today. Another thing I noticed is that the development of Central Park has European inspirations. For example, the Belvedere Castle in the Ramble was designed using Gothic and Romanesque styles. Due to the competition between America and Europe, this also sparked a lot of development in Central Park, where America was trying to keep up with the advancements in Europe at the time. This led to the push for a museum inside the park, and sculptures within the park as well, to show that America has a cultural history as well. The museum that is inside the park still exists today, and that museum is the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I focused on the architecture of the interior building. Inside, viewers can spot the interior designs of both the original museum and the new one. The original main entrance of the MET is inside the central park, and this is where the notable difference between new and old can be seen. The original design of the museum includes red brick walls, and grey marble pillars that give it an old fashioned feel to it. Meanwhile, the new design of the MET is dominated by a white color on its walls, floors, and pillars. White is a color that signify a new beginning in many instances, and I think this was the route the museum went towards. To show they moved on from where they began at, new modern designs like windows were used as part of the architecture, new colors were applied, and even the main entrance was moved else where. There is actually a word to describe the MET having their old and new designs coexisting together inside the museum. A palimpsest is when old material on an original piece has been replaced by new material, but traces of the old material still remain. That is what we see in the MET at the original entrance, where most of the museum has transformed into the modern design, but we still see subtle traces of what the museum once looked in the past. Another place where we can see palimpsests are in our own neighborhoods. One particular example I have is when I was recently uptown in Harlem, NY. The area has infamously gone through phases of gentrification. As I am walking through, I see a hip cafe that has modern looking decor, meanwhile right next to it is a local fried chicken joint. The difference in clientele, interior design, decor, and type of food served amazes me. The two completely different type of stores look so odd next to each other, yet they are coexisting. The palimpsest here is that the modern hip cafe is the “new”, while the local fried chicken joint is the traces of “old”, that remind me of what Harlem once was, and used to be.
