Queens Museum

The Queens Museum in Queens, New York is located in the historic building named after the city itself- The New York Building. As the erstwhile site of 2 World’s Fairs and the United Nations General Assembly between 1946 and 1950, the building has a significant history of its own and is a city landmark. The Queens Museum, in keeping with this theme, is aimed at showcasing the various aspects of New York City that make it distinctive. A significant portion of the museum’s collection comes from the two World’s Fairs, while the rest is a collection of works by artists associated with the city, like Salvador Dali.

There is also a detailed relief model of New York City’s entire municipal water supply system as well as a scale model of the entire 1964 World’s Fair. 

The crown jewel of the museum however is undoubtedly the detailed 1:1200 scale model of all five boroughs of New York City, which is the size of a tennis court. With 895,000 individual structures, a model airport with planes taking off and every street of the city represented on it, this model is regularly updated as new structures come up in the city. Visitors can closely examine all areas of this scale model by walkways and ramps with glass flooring that arch over the entire exhibit. This museum is a great visit for those that ask the question ‘What makes New York City special?’.